Micron, after acquiring Lexar, has become a stronger contender in the NAND flash memory business market.
Despite opposition from investor billionaire Carl Icahn (who holds 7.47% of the shares and participates in the voting), shareholders of Lexar Media have agreed to the deal to sell to Micron Technology, strengthening this powerful memory chip manufacturer in the NAND flash memory market.
According to a statement from Lexar on June 16, 2006, over 50% of shareholders (the minimum required number) approved the merger, which will be finalized as soon as possible. Each share of Lexar will be exchanged for 0.5925 shares of Micron common stock.
NAND (short for “Not AND”) is a type of memory chip widely used because it can store a large amount of data and retain it even when power is lost, making NAND the ideal memory chip for storing songs, photos, and various types of data in digital cameras, mobile phones, digital music players, and more. The NAND memory chip market is currently dominated by Toshiba and Samsung Electronics.
This agreement will enable Micron to acquire some of the fundamental NAND flash memory patents owned by Lexar. In 2005, Micron and Intel established a joint venture called IM Flash Technologies to capture market share in the rapidly growing NAND flash segment of the chip industry.
