Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has approved the planned merger among Micron Technology, Elpida Memory and Rexchip Electronics, stating that the deal complies with fair trade rules and regulations set by the government.

The new Micron/Elpida entity will hold a 25% share of the global DRAM market after completion of the merger, which is comparable to SK Hynix's but still trails behind Samsung Electronics' 40%, according to an industry estimate.

After the merger between Micron and Elpida, Samsung will continue to maintain its leadership position in the mobile RAM segment, while the new Micron and Hynix will share the rest of the market, the sources added.

Prices of DRAM chips are expected to continue trending upward prior to the Lunar New Year holidays, said the sources, noting that spot prices of 2Gb DDR3 and 4Gb DDR3 chips have reached US$1 and US$2.2 recently.