Tsinghua Unigroup to buy Micron in potential first Chinese foreign takeover

Tsinghua Unigroup plans to offer $23 billion for chipmaker Micron Technology in a deal that would be the largest takeover of a foreign firm by a Chinese company.

Micron surged in Frankfurt trading. Tsinghua will bid $21 a share, or about 19 per cent more than Monday’s closing price in New York, and present the offer as soon as Tuesday, said a person familiar with the matter.

Micron said it hasn’t received a proposal. The offer comes as the nation that accounts for more than half of global semiconductor sales seeks to wean itself off technology developed overseas amid tensions with the US over hacking.

The Chinese government has budgeted to spend as much as 1 trillion yuan ($161 billion) on the chip industry over the next five to 10 years, consulting firm McKinsey and Co estimates.

"We are very interested in cooperation with Micron," Tsinghua Unigroup chairman Zhao Weiguo said in a phone message, without commenting on a potential bid.

In German trading, Micron shares rose 19 per cent to the equivalent of $20.87 this morning in Frankfurt.

- Bloomberg