Fairchild – ON Semi deal is not done yet!

ON Semi’s offer of 20$ per share, representing a total of 2.4B$ as been beaten by a better offer.

The new bidder offered 21,70$ per share. The origin of the offer is still anonymous, and is being examined by Fairchild’s board. Several sources relate that the new offer comes from a group led by China Resources Holding.

Among the issues posed by selling Fairchild to a Chinese company, is the fact that the offer needs to be reviewed and approved by the CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.), an agency that has scuttled transactions involving Chinese SOEs. Phoenix based ON Semiconductor’s offer had the advantage to keep the US flag floating over Fairchild’s headquarter.

China’s willing to acquire Power semiconductor technology is not new. The country has been actively working on developing it’s own technologies. Even if they master now the manufacturing of IGBTs. They are still late as the technology used is quite old and not as advanced as the one you could find at power semiconductor dinosaurs like Infineon, Mitsubishi, and Fairchild. The development of T&D and Smartgrid needs as well as electric mobility put China in need of sourcing such technology.