Hynix, Infineon in talks about a DRAM alliance, says report

Hynix, Infineon in talks about a DRAM alliance, says report
SEOUL -- After breaking off merger talks with Micron Technology Inc. earlier this week, Korea's Hynix Semiconductor Inc. is now reportedly in discussions about a chip alliance with Germany's Infineon Technologies AG, according to reports from Reuters.

The report claimed that Japanese business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun quoted Infineon Chief Executive Ulrich Schumacher as saying the company was in talks with Hynix about a joint venture and other potential alliances.

No other details were given in the report, but the German chip maker did say the talks included a potential DRAM alliance.

It's been a roller coaster ride for Hynix, Infineon and Micron. On Monday, Micron confirmed that talks to take over seven Hynix memory fabs have broken off and no further discussions between the two firms are scheduled. Micron reportedly had offered $2.5-to-$3 billion, but some of the largest Korean creditors of Hynix wanted several billion more.

Recently, Micron did buy a DRAM fab from Japan's Toshiba Corp. Micron purchased the fab after talks about a DRAM alliance between Toshiba and Infineon broke down.