Elpida takes control of Taiwanese DRAM joint venture

LONDON — Japanese DRAM maker Elpida Memory Inc. has said it has acquired shares in its Taiwanese DRAM making joint venture Rexchip Electronics Corp. (Houli, Taiwan) taking its share holding from 48 percent to 52 percent.

Elpida has acquired the share from its partner in the JV, Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. and Rexchip now becomes a consolidated subsidiary of Elpida.

Elpida acquired 94.3 million shares with a nominal value of 11.17 new Taiwan dollars each, or a total value of NT$1.05 billion or $30.7 million. As this represented 3.2 percent of the outstanding shares it values Rexchip at about $950 million.

The plan was trailed in November 2008 although subsequent to that there was speculation that Elpida might buy all of Powerchip (see story).

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