Market watchers generally believe that Micron Technology's upcoming acquisition of Numonyx, which unseated Spansion in the 2009 NOR flash memory market, may pose a challenge to Samsung Electronics in terms of product competitiveness. The deal has also raised concerns over Numonyx' partnership with Hynix Semiconductor on the development of NAND flash memory.
Buying Numonyx will allow Micron to provide a complete product portfolio of flash memory products by adding NOR, MCP and phase-change memory (PCM) product lines, enabling it to compete against Samsung, according to the watchers.
Micron and Numonyx' revenues would have amounted to US$6.6 billion in 2009, according to a Numonyx. The combined sales are about 44% behind Samsung's memory business, which generated 13.77 trillion won (US$11.9 billion) for the year.
Samsung is also unlikely to continue its joint efforts with Numonyx to develop market specifications for PCM products, after the partner is folded into Micron, the watchers believe. Samsung announced its co-development of PCM specifications with Numonyx in June 2009.
In addition, Hynix may be impacted by Micron's Numonyx takeover, the watchers indicated. Hynix has partnered with Numonyx on future NAND flash products and technologies, especially managed NAND solutions compatible with the newly-ratified JEDEC eMMC 4.4 standard.
Elpida Memory, another potential sufferer, may lose its foundry ties with Numonyx, according to the watchers. The two in July 2008 signed a foundry agreement, in which Numonyx would utilize Elpida's Hiroshima fab to manufacture NOR flash memory.
While Micron's move to acquire Numonyx looks bullish for both companies, Forbes has cited an analyst at Broadpoint AmTech as saying that there are concerns about Micron buying a company in a declining industry and a lack of financial details on the takeover.