EU approves NEC, Renesas merger
(BRUSSELS) - The European Union's competition watchdog on Wednesday approved merger plans by NEC Electronics and Renesas Technology to create Japan's largest semiconductor maker.
"The transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it," the European Commission said in a statement.
The two firms aim to integrate their operations by April 2010, becoming the world's number three chipmaker behind Intel Corp. of the United States and Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea.
The two firms' combined annual sales amount to more than 1.2 trillion yen (12 billion dollars).
Renesas Technology is jointly controlled by Hitachi Mitsubishi, also headquartered in Japan.
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