Hynix, Micron, Toshiba submit bids for bankrupt Elpida Memory: report

Chipmakers Hynix Semiconductor, Micron Technology and Toshiba Corp have submitted bids for Japan's bankrupt Elpida Memory Inc, local newspaper Yonhap Infomax yesterday reported without citing sources.

Based on Yonhap's report, the South Korean stock exchange today asked Hynix, the world's second-largest computer memory-chip maker, to disclose by 2 April whether it had submitted a bid for Elpida.

Reeling under $5.55 billion debt,  the world's third-largest and Japan's only DRAM chip maker Elpida last month filed for bankruptcy protection, as it got bogged down with falling prices and increased competition from its Taiwanese and South Korean rivals. (See: Japan's only DRAM chip maker Elpida files for bankruptcy)

Delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange this week, Elpida was valued at more than $1.1 billion before it filed for bankruptcy protection on 28 February.

Toshiba, the world's second- largest maker of flash memory, had earlier said that it would consider investing in Elpida either alone or as part of a consortium, while Idaho-based Micron has been in talks with Elpida since the end of last year on a potential takeover.

But Toshiba has 252.6 billion yen in debt due this year and 114.4 billion yen in 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, while Micron has around $2.1 billion in cash reserves.