Fairchild Semiconductor Corp, the South Portland, Maine-based manufacturer of semiconductor components, is set to acquire the Power Device Division of South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co for $455m. The deal is intended to strengthen Fairchild’s market share in the consumer electronics industry, said Darrell Mayeux, Fairchild’s senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing. Fairchild, which was spun out of National Semiconductor Corp eighteen months ago, is predominantly a supplier of semiconductor components for the telecommunications and personal computer industries. The Samsung division is tightly focused on consumer electronics and manufactures a range of linear semiconductor products, including power switches, motor controls and high voltage products. The deal, which is expected to take a further three to four months of negotiation before closing, includes the transfer of a manufacturing site in Bucheon, South Korea which comprises two fabrication facilities working with four and five inch wafers. Approximately 1,200 staff are expected to transfer across in roles including manufacturing, development and sales and marketing, adding to Fairchild’s 6,500 existing staff. Upon completion of the deal, Fairchild estimates that it will do $100m of business with Samsung annually. Samsung said this divestment formed part of its on-going restructuring initiatives as the company intends to focus more tightly on the manufacture of DRAMs. A spokesperson for Fairchild said the company hoped all of Samsung’s staff at the division would choose transfer across because the plant was efficiently run and not over staffed. A month ago (CI No 3,529) Fairchild denied rumors that it was about to be acquired by Samsung.
