In mid-January this year, Chinese buyers who had waited for nearly a year were rejected by the United States for their acquisition of 80.1% of the shares of Lumileds, a Philips subsidiary of the Netherlands, and the reasons for the veto were never known.
Recently, "Reference News" quoted foreign media sources, an expert and another person involved in the discussion of the transaction revealed that concerns about China's ambitions in the chip field are the main reason why US officials refused to approve the merger.
However, industry insiders said that the US side vetoed the deal not because it is concerned about the pure LED chip technology field, but because the LED chip belongs to the field of semiconductor expertise, if the chip technology is used in various precision electronic equipment and military fields, then Not conducive to the protection of its advantageous industries.
The reason for the veto is revealed
On January 22, Philips announced that it had stopped selling its lighting components and automotive lighting business to Chinese investors due to opposition from US regulators. Philips said that although the company tried to eliminate the concerns of the relevant regulatory authorities by doing a lot of work, it still has not approved Philips' plan to sell 80% of Lumileds.
According to the information, Philips' Lumileds is the world's leading manufacturer of lighting equipment, including lighting components, general lighting, automotive lighting and mobile electronic lighting. The company's business covers more than 30 countries around the world.
The US regulator’s veto of Philips’ Lumileds equity trading in the residential lighting industry surprised the industry and the US Foreign Investment Committee, which enforced the veto, did not disclose the reasons.
On February 14, the "Reference News" quoted the US "New York Times" news that an expert and another person involved in the discussion of the transaction revealed that there are concerns about China's ambitions in the chip field, especially a kind of nitriding. Gallium semiconductor materials, which is the main reason why US officials refused to approve a merger and acquisition transaction. So far, this is the first news to reveal the reason why the transaction was rejected.
Taking gallium nitride as the substrate and then making epitaxial LED products, we only know that Cree is doing so, and commercialization is relatively successful. Whether Philips' Lumileds company masters this technology is still uncertain.
The most commonly used LED chip substrate materials on the market are mainly sapphire substrates, silicon carbide substrates and silicon substrates. Among them, the first two were initiated by Japan and the United States, while China’s Jingneng Optoelectronics and the silicon substrate LED chip technology developed by Nanchang University also won the first prize of national technology invention, breaking the monopoly of high-power LED technology blockade, but mastering There are fewer companies that use GaN as a substrate material for LED chip technology.
Gallium nitride is a third-generation semiconductor. Because GaN materials can withstand high temperature and high pressure in other semiconductor materials, the process density is higher. It is widely used in electric vehicles, communications, and even military fields. But it is not certain whether Lumileds has mastered this technology.
Not only LED chip technology
In addition, Wu Yulin, general manager of Guangdong Kaixiou Lighting Co., Ltd. said that if only the LED chip technology is not rejected, the invisible additional results extended by the Philips subsidiary Lumileds may be the reason for the transaction being rejected.
"Domestic LED chip technology is actually no worse than foreign countries. Philips management is also aware that this piece has no big advantage, and will hope to sell this asset, so it is difficult to say that China's LED chip technology has too much gap. Zhang Xiaofei, chairman of Gaogong LED, told reporters that the technology of silicon substrate LED chip developed by Professor Jiang Fengyi from Nanchang University and the silicon substrate developed by Jingneng Optoelectronics has accumulated a large number of patent advantages, which is another way in the industry.
"Acquisition of a company, in addition to technology, more important is the technical file." Wu Yulin said that Philips as a century-old company, master the world's most advanced lighting technology, and even with the US military industry have supporting lighting technology services, if the Philips Subsidiaries acquired, the previous Philips subsidiary to give customers such as aircraft, satellite navigation and other lighting systems, the relevant original supporting design drawings and processes will be obtained by the buyer, which is more taboo.
Wu Yulin also said that compared with China, there are not many surplus industries in the United States, and downstream manufacturing China has caught up. There are still many gaps in the semiconductor industry and IT industry. China wants to buy so much. If the company involves semiconductor materials technology, the United States may be more stringent.
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