Hynix accuses Micron of spying

A KOREAN WIRE claimed that a board member of embattled Dramurai Hynix said earlier this year that signing a memo of (mis) understanding with US firm Micron would give it access to important trade secrets.

The wire reports a director as saying on the 30th of April: "Is there any counter-plan in case the negotiations fall through after Micron gets its hands on all our internal information".

Earlier this year, the memo of understanding for Hynix to acquire its semiconductor assets fell through, and the CEO of Hynix was forced to resign by creditor banks.

The creditor banks now control Hynix' destiny, lumbered as it is with massive debt.

Micron is a major, nay the only US manufacturer of dynamic random access memory (DRAM).

Last Friday, Micron filed a case with US federal body the ITC claiming that unnamed Korean memory manufacturers were receiving bailout packages and subsidies which distorted the market for memory.

One source at Hynix told the INQUIRER today: "We were never close to a merger - this was something propagated by the Korean government to bolster its political standing".

Micron's accusations that unnamed Korean companies had "inefficient manufacturing operations" was also not true of Hynix.

"Micron's manufacturing cost higher than everyone except the Japanese [manufacturers]," the source said. "Every time Micron loses money they file a complaint about unfair trade practices."

He said Hynix problems have always been debt related not cost related, and claimed Micron is living on its past successes.

"Wall Street has yet to realise this," he claimed. "Its offer for the buyout was based on its incredibly inflated stock price but it still wasn't enough to get consideration".

He added that Hynix acquired LG Semiconductor two years back and incurred billions in new debt as a result, but now Micron wanted both companies for less than $5 billion. µ

See Also
Micron, Hynix sign memo of misunderstanding
Micron accuses Korean Dramurai of breaching world trade laws
Hynix claims Micron gained access to internal info External Chosun Ilbo link