The takeover of Tokyo Electron and Applied Materials has been called off following US DoJ objections on anti-trust grounds.
The merged company would have had 25% of the equipment market and 50% of the market for etching machines.
The two companies announced the deal 18 months ago.
“The companies’ decision to abandon this merger preserves competition for semiconductor manufacturing equipment,” said acting assistant attorney general Renata Hesse. “The semiconductor industry is critically important to the American economy, and the proposed remedy would not have replaced the competition eliminated by the merger, particularly with respect to the development of equipment for next-generation semiconductors.”
Both companies’ shares fell on the news.
The decision puts a question mark over the NXP-Freescale proposed merger.
