It has been confirmed that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are interested in acquiring a stake of Korea's Hynix Semiconductor's Co. Hynix is one of the world's leading companies in supplying memory semiconductors including dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips and flash memory chips.
According to a report, it is possible that the UAE could acquire all of Hynix Co. if the situation allows, or just parts of Hynix.
Preliminary bidding for Hynix Co. will be ongoing until January 29, 2010. About nine years ago, creditor banks became Hynix's shareholders via several debt-for-equity exchanges. These creditors included Korea Exchange Bank and Korea Development Bank, who are now looking to sell all or parts of their 28 percent stake in Hynix. Meanwhile, Hynix is waiting to receive letters of intent for the stakes from local companies and will make future plans afterwards.
A high ranked government official stated on January 5, 2010, "Last November, it was announced that the UAE government is interested in buying stakes from Hynix Co. They are willing to buy parts of Hynix if it is difficult for them to acquire the whole company." If the UAE government is planning to purchase parts of Hynix and enormous amount of money is involved, they will likely receive financial aid from Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC).
Just last year, ATIC inputted US$8 billion in investments, including investing in AMD's manufacturing industry and agreeing to pay US$3.9 billion in acquiring Singapore-based Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Walleed Al Muhaely, ATIC's president stated at a forum last year, "For the upcoming four years, it seems that Abu Dhabi will establish factories. We want to expand the semiconductor industry and employ 40,000 workers by 2030." With these large investment headlines, the UAE is preparing for the future of electronics and technology.
