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TEL rumoured to be buying Epion |
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Dec 07, 2006 at 04:29 PM |
There would seem to be a fair amount of buzz going around Tokyo Electron at the moment as we have picked up on several rumours that TEL is in the process of acquiring Epion Corp., a specialist Gas Cluster Ion Beam (GCIB) equipment vendor.
The reason why TEL is getting attention right now is that Applied Materials has grown significantly larger than its number 2 competitor. As a result, people think that TEL will need to respond by acquiring other major equipment vendors to ‘bulk-up' as the gap in size is showing the relative strength of AMAT against the much smaller TEL.
TEL doesn't have the cash reserves that AMAT has had, but that would seem to be a side issue in that any major acquisitions would be stock-based. Small acquisitions such as the Epion rumoured deal would probably be a cash deal, as this would be seen as a technology buy-type deal.
What isn't known right now is whether TEL is actually taking its ‘number 2' dilemma seriously and actually planning the big acquisitions the marketplace has in mind.
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