Intel buys into Micron Technology

By Steve Malone

Posted on 25 Sep 2003 at 11:54

Intel has bought $450 million worth of shares in memory maker Micron Technology, representing 5.3 per cent of the company. Micron says the money will be used to develop its 300mm manufacturing technology and boost DDR2 memory production.

The companies also announced they would work together to develop future products.

In a statement, Intel CEO Craig Barrett said, 'Intel is making this investment in Micron to help enable such high-end memory capabilities as DDR2 to meet the requirements of our future-generation products.'

Micron is one of the few remaining US based DRAM manufacturers outside the Far East and is a leader in 0.13 micron process technology at its manufacturing locations worldwide and the company is currently ramping up 0.11 micron manufacturing.

All in all, it looks like a shrewd investment for Intel. The DRAM market is a notorious rollercoaster of boom and bust and is just emerging from several years of definite bust. Micron, by earmarking the new money into production technologies clearly senses that the good times are on the way back.

Intel, which pulled out of the memory market many years ago, for its part will want to ensure supplies of memory products as the industry enters the cycle of boom with the inevitable shortage of high-end components supplied by the likes of Micron.