1. Micron
Associates
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-
06-20/micron-posts-4th-straight-loss-as-
memory-chip-prices-fall.html

2. Micron Posts 4th Straight
Loss As Memory-Chip
Micron Technology Inc.Fall the largest
Prices (MU),
U.S. maker of computer memory, reported a
fourth consecutive quarterly loss after
prices fell for chips used to store data in
phones and tablets, crimping sales.

3. The net loss was $320 million, or 32 cents a
share, for the third quarter ended May 31,
compared with profit of $75 million, or 7
cents, a year earlier, the Boise, Idaho-based
company said yesterday in a statement.
Sales rose 1.5 percent to $2.17 billion.
Analysts projected a loss of 20 cents on
revenue of $1.99 billion, the average of
estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

4. Makers of smartphones and other mobile
devices haven’t equipped their products
with as much memory as had been
predicted, nor are computer manufacturers
turning to chips for main storage at rates
that were forecast, according to a report
this week by Doug Freedman, an analyst
at RBC Capital Markets in San Francisco.
The result has been a glut in the product
category called Nand flash memory.

5. Prices may begin to increase this month or
in July as the result of demand for chips for
new models of devices, Freedman wrote. He
rates Micron outperform, the equivalent of a
buy recommendation.
“We see reason to be optimistic,” Micron
President Mark Adams said in a telephone
interview. “Pricing isn’t in a great place, but
it’s an improved and more stable
environment.”

6. Micron shares fell 7.8 percent to $5.65 at the
close in New York. The stock has lost 10
percent this year.

7. Japan’s Elpida
The company said in May it was in talks to
buy a Japanese competitor, Elpida Memory
Inc., to gain more control of industry output
because periods of oversupply make it
difficult for Micron to deliver profits. Elpida,
the last Japanese maker of computer-
memory chips, sought bankruptcy
protection in February after losses left it
unable to pay debts.

8. “We don’t feel that it’s a deal where we are
up against the wall and have to do it at all
costs,” said Micron’s Adams. “Micron has
always been very sensitive to balance-sheet
preservation and we’ll continue with that
goal in mind.”

9. Acquiring Elpida would double Micron’s
share of the global market for dynamic
random-access memory, the most widely
used memory chips in personal computers,
to about 24 percent, helping it compete
against industry leader Samsung
Electronics Co. An acquisition of Elpida,
which has three factories, would give
Micron access to customers it currently
doesn’t supply, executives of the U.S.
company said yesterday.

10. Micron Chief Executive Officer Mark Durcan
told analysts yesterday that the company
will only go ahead with a purchase if it
doesn’t involve diluting stock or taking on
too much interest-bearing debt.

11. To contact the reporter on this
story: Ian King in San
Francisco at ianking@bloomberg
.net
To contact the editor responsible
for this story: Tom Giles
at tgiles5@bloomberg.net