TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s GlobalWafers failed to get approval from Germany’s Ministry for Economic Affairs for an acquisition of German rival Siltronic before a deadline set by the buyer expired on Monday (Jan. 31), Reuters reported.

GlobalWafers, the world’s third-largest manufacturer of semiconductor wafers, had offered to pay 4.35 billion euros (NT$135.75 billion) to acquire Siltronic, in an attempt to expand market share and challenge leading Japanese manufacturers Shiin-Etsu Chemical and Sumco, according to Nikkei.

“It was not possible to complete all the necessary review steps as part of the investment review — this applies in particular to the review of the antitrust approval by the Chinese authorities, which was only granted last week,” Reuters cited a German economic ministry spokesperson as saying.

GlobalWafers received approval for the deal from China on Jan. 21, after green lights from other regulators, including those in Taiwan, Singapore, the U.S., and Japan, per Nikkei. The German ministry said if the Taiwanese company makes a new acquisition attempt, another investment review would be carried out, according to Reuters.

Siltronic is the only supplier of specialized wafers for several European chipmakers. If it were taken over by GlobalWafers, it could affect Europe’s push to bolster self-sufficiency in chips, Nikkei said.

GlobalWafers acquired a majority stake in Siltronic last year. The company’s chief executive, Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) told the newspaper Handelsblatt last week that if the deal fell through, GlobalWafers would likely invest in the U.S. instead, per Reuters.


●Origin：Taiwan News By Eric Chang
●Link：https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4427972