- On Wednesday, SK Hynix Inc (000660. KS) of South Korea announced that the Chinese antitrust authorities had approved its purchase of Intel Corp’s (INTC.O). NAND memory chip division, allowing the world’s second-largest memory chip producer to complete regulatory approvals in all eight nations. Last October, the US semiconductor giant decided to sell its NAND memory chip business to SK Hynix for $9 billion as part of a divestment plan to focus on its more minor memory division, which employs more sophisticated technology.
“SK Hynix much appreciates the State Administration for Market Regulation’s merger permission for the agreement. By completing the remaining post-merger integration process, SK Hynix will improve its competitiveness in the NAND Flash and SSD markets. “In a statement, the firm stated.
“SK Hynix much appreciates the State Administration for Market Regulation’s merger permission for the agreement. By completing the remaining post-merger integration process, SK Hynix will improve its competitiveness in the NAND Flash and SSD markets. “In a statement, the firm stated.
China’s market regulator authorized the purchase agreement on Wednesday but with caveats. Additional restrictions to this agreement are needed because the concentration of the PCIe and SATA solid-state drive companies following the purchase would have or may have a restrictive effect on competition in those sectors, according to China’s State Administration for Market Regulation.
In addition, SK Hynix must not sell PCIe and SATA enterprise-class solid-state drive devices to China’s domestic market at unreasonably low pricing. Within five years of the effective transaction date, the Chinese regulator stated SK Hynix should continue to enhance its output of PCIe and SATA enterprise-class solid-state drive devices.
Customers in China’s market should not be forced to buy items only from SK Hynix or firms owned by it. SK Hynix should not engage in agreements with its primary competitors in China that exclude or restrict competition. The acquisition is SK Hynix’s most prominent. The Korean firm wants to boost its pricing power and expand its capacity for producing NAND chips that are used to store data in smartphones and data center servers.
“There has been speculation that winning China’s clearance for the purchase may be difficult for SK Hynix, or that it will greatly delay any approval given the delicate scenario amid semiconductor industry tensions between the US and China.”
“As the agreement is viewed mutually advantageous for all three nations,” SK Hynix stated, “it appears that clearance could come at the right moment without a substantial delay.”
“China’s permission is a little later than the market expected,” said Park Sung-soon, an analyst at Cape Investment & Securities. “However, this is in line with the company’s target of gaining Chinese regulatory clearance within this year.”
“This purchase would likely help SK Hynix better extend its NAND solid-state drive business for corporate clients like data centers. Since its NAND SSD business has been mostly focused on consumer devices like smartphones and PCs,” Park continued.
China refutes allegations that an imprisoned mint banker faked US$314 billion in banknotes:
China’s central bank debunked a rumor that an imprisoned senior official faked banknotes worth $314 billion. Chen Yaoming was one of the persons in charge of minting China’s currency until he was recently detained on suspicion of “severe crimes” that it did not describe. On Weibo on Wednesday (Dec 22), his imprisonment was one of the top trending topics, with some guessing that it was because he was producing banknotes with the same serial numbers as other notes.
The People’s Bank of China stated in a statement Wednesday that the rumor that he had produced 2 trillion yuan (US$314 billion) worth of such notes is untrue and has been denounced by the authorities. According to the PBOC, the printing of renminbi notes follows a stringent process and is always done in line with rules and regulations.
However, neither the central bank’s announcement nor the notification from the anti-corruption watchdog earlier this month, which stated that Chen had surrendered and was under investigation, provided any rationale for his detention.
Forging 2 trillion yuan in banknotes would be a massive endeavor the highest note in China is 100 yuan. Therefore 2 trillion yuan would be 20 billion notes, representing around 2% of China’s GDP in 2020.
Online reports concerning a counterfeit notes enterprise have been debunked:
On Wednesday, the People’s Bank of China debunked an internet claim that an insider was secretly printing large amounts of banknotes on its official Weibo account and reported the situation to authorities.
The allegation began to spread on Tuesday on many social media sites after a lady called Wen posted a photo of herself holding two 100-yuan banknotes produced in 1990 with identical codes, both of which were verified as genuine by a bank.
Later in the day, a report circulated that Chen Yaoming, a senior official with the China Bank Note Producing and Minting Corporation, had surrendered to authorities for printing 2 trillion yuan (US$313.8 billion) worth of banknotes with duplicate numbers. On Tuesday evening, it quickly became a trending issue.
According to a representative from the People’s Bank of China’s monetary gold and silver office, the printing and issuing of RMB notes follow tight operating processes and technical requirements.
As per Central Commission for Discipline Inspection,
Chen Yaoming, a Party committee member and director of the China Bank Note Printing and Minting Corporation, is now under investigation for major legal infractions. At this time, no more information has been disclosed.
Some internet users pointed out that the individual who started the story lacked common sense and had not considered how heavy the massive amounts of banknotes were or how much room they would take up. As the netizen pointed out, breaking the law does not always imply producing money in secret.
It isn’t the first time the People’s Bank of China has issued a statement debunking a myth. Police have seized rumormongers who distributed false information regarding reducing the required reserve ratio and interest rates.
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