Micron to Buy Lexar in Flash Merger

Micron Technology plans to acquire Lexar Media for roughly $688 million in stock to merge the two Flash memory leaders. InternetNews.com writes the "merger will pair Micron's chip technology and manufacturing assets in NAND Flash memory with Lexar's NAND chips storage cards and USB Flash drives, brand and retail channel."

Gartner analyst Joe Unsworth opined the "deal should significantly improve Micron's position in the NAND Flash business, where it competes with SanDisk, Samsung and Toshiba." He said, "Lexar is very strong in their controller technology, and that's really played to Lexar's strength in the high-end digital photography segment. Micron is ramping up in NAND Flash and now has an avenue to move some of their NAND Flash via Lexar. This puts Micron/Lexar much closer to an even game with SanDisk."

Over at Forbes.com, according to Jim Handy at Semico Research, "together, the companies accounted for 35% of the $8 billion flash-card market last year, with SanDisk controlling a quarter of the market and Lexar holding 10%,. Handy expected "flash-card sales to hit $11.3 billion this year and $20 billion in 2007."