REUTERS: U.S. chip gear maker Applied Materials Inc on Monday agreed to buy Japanese peer Kokusai Electric for US$2.2 billion from KKR & Co Inc, as it bets on rising demand for memory chips used in data centres, 5G phones and AI-powered devices.
However, the Kokusai acquisition could still be scrutinized by Chinese authorities given the ongoing trade tensions between the United States and China, which last year derailed Qualcomm Inc's US$44 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors. While the last major round of talks between the world's two largest economies collapsed in May, they agreed on Saturday to restart their trade negotiations.Apart from China, the acquisition will need approvals from Israel, Ireland, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, Applied Materials Chief Financial Officer Dan Durn said on a call with analysts.The deal comes less than two years after KKR took control of Hitachi Kokusai in a US$2.2 billion deal.
Kokusai, which counts Samsung, SK Hynix, Toshiba and Micron among its top customers, reported revenue of US$1.24 billion as of March 2018.
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