Micron Acquires Lexar Media

By Greg Scoblete On Mar 13 2006 - 8:00am

Semiconductor maker Micron Technology announced last week that it will purchase Lexar Media in a stock-for-stock merger.

According to a Micron spokesman, there will be no immediate change in either business. The merger, expected to be completed by the third quarter, will integrate Lexar's flash-controller technology and established retail relationships with Micron's NAND manufacturing capability, the spokesman said.

NAND flash is used in digital camera memory cards, MP3 players and other consumer electronics devices.

In a statement announcing the release, Lexar president/CEO Eric Stang framed the deal as a way to “better align Lexar's cost structure with business conditions and increase our development and go-to-market scale in order to compete more effectively. By merging with Micron, Lexar can achieve significant cost synergies and become better positioned to satisfy customer needs and establish faster growth, especially in new emerging mobile handset and solid-state computing businesses.”

Lexar Media employs a “fabless” model — outsourcing the manufacturer of the memory to third parties, including Samsung. That relationship will remain for the time being and Lexar's retail strategy won't change, said Tim Sullivan, retail sales VP, Lexar.

Micron, which manufacturers a range of semiconductor products, recently teamed with Intel to produce NAND.