Micron to buy $400 million stake in memory maker

From CNET News.com: Micron Technology announced Sunday that it is buying Qimonda AG's $400 million stake in Inotera Memories.

notera was founded as a joint venture by Qimonda (formerly the memory products division of Infineon Technologies) and Nanya Technology. Micron said the deal constitutes an expansion of its relationship with Nanya.

In the current Qimonda-Nanya partnership, Inotera operates two 300-millimeter wafer fabrication facilities producing a total of 120,000 wafers per month, Micron said.

Under the agreement, Micron will acquire access to half of the manufacturing capacity of Inotera, with the other half allocated to Nanya. Micron said it will also share its Stack DRAM technology with Inotera for the production of Stack DRAM products for Micron and Nanya.

The stake in Inotera will improve the Boise, Idaho memory chipmaker's economies of scale. "Micron will gain greater scale in DRAM, reduce our operating expenses per wafer and have access to a very cost competitive operation," Micron Chairman and CEO Steve Appleton said in a statement.

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