China wants to buy Micron for $23 billion

WSJ claims Chinese state-backed investment firm Tsinghua Unigroup has launched a $23 billion bid to takeover memory maker Micron. If the deal goes through, it would be the biggest Chinese takeover of a US company, but the transaction is expected to face significant political hurdles as the sharing of cutting-edge technology with China is a very sensitive subject:

But any foreign takeover of Idaho-based Micron - the last major U.S.-based manufacturer of DRAM chips used in personal computers - would likely have to pass a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which looks at the national security implications of such deals.

Vincent Gu, a Shanghai-based analyst at iSupply, said the chances of the U.S. government approving the deal would be "next to zero" given the political hurdles. "It's difficult to purchase the critical technology. China should stay firmly grounded and persevere with researching the technology itself," Gu said.

Tsinghua Unigroup was founded in 1988 by the Tsinghua University and Intel has a 20 percent stake in the company.

Via: Reuters