Intel and Micron have invited the media to a mystery event on July 28 at 9 am Pacific time. Apart from a link informing the media of the event timing, no other information has been made public.
More collaboration on 3D NAND chips possible
Previously, the two firms worked on developing and producing 3D NAND chips, which were unveiled earlier this year. These chips make use of floating gate cells, making them three times more effective than the regular NAND chips. 3D chips help mobile devices with low-power usage, higher performance and cost advantage as well. So it can be guessed that the upcoming press event may have to do something with these chips or possibly a new development or update on them.
“We do not rule out some form of closer relationship between Micron and Intel and to be announced tomorrow – to better safeguard supply of NAND (from Micron into Intel),” noted Mehdi Hosseini with Susquehanna Financial Group. The analyst has a Positive rating on Micron with a price target of $28.
A decline in the PC market has affected shares of both Intel and Micron. Over the past six months, Intel and Micron shares are down 21% and 41.33% respectively. For Intel, short interest increased to 140.29 million shares as of July 15 from 138.42 million last month. For Micron, short interest was up marginally for the same period.
Intel, Micron, Tsinghua all connected
In the last few weeks, there have been reports of Micron being acquired by Chinese Tsinghua Group. Some of the reports claim Tsinghua offered $23 billion to Micron, while some claim this amount is being asked by Micron, which is currently worth around $20 billion.
One of the reports, which quotes Tsinghua chairman Xu Jinghong, said the firms are still in talks. Though no further details have been provided, the deal appears very unlikely due to regulatory concerns. It is interesting to note that last year Intel acquired a 20% stake in Tsinghua worth $1.5 billion. So it can be seen that all three companies are in a way connected. So apart from the 3D NAND chips, there is a good possibility of an announcement being something more like that.
On Monday, Intel shares closed up 1.03% at $28.35, and year to date, the stock is down by almost 23%. Micron shares closed down 1.2% at $18.12, and year to date, the stock is down by almost 49%.
