A merged Micron-Elpida would be the DRAM industry No.2 behind Samsung with 28% share of the market and capacity for 374,000 300mm wpm, says IHS.
Samsung’s share is 33% with capacity of 433,000 wpm.
Hynix would fall to No.3 with 23% share and capacity of 300,000 wpm.
Militating against the merger are: the strong yen making Japanese manufacturing uncompetitive; Elpida’s l$4bn of debt, and Micron’s links with Nanya of Taiwan.
There would be three main benefits from a merger, says HIS:
Micron’s access to a better class of specialty DRAM customer – Micron gets $1.34 per MByte while Elpida gets 70c a MByte;
Elpida’s mobile phone customer base which represents 18.4% of |Elpida shipments but only 5.3% of Micron’s shipments;
Leverage over customers.