ASML Holding NV intents to acquire Taiwanese company Hermes Microvision, Inc (HMI), a leading supplier of pattern verification systems used for advanced semiconductor devices. They have reached an agreement under which ASML will acquire all outstanding shares of HMI in a cash transaction valued at about TWD 100 billion, approximately EUR 2.75 billion at current exchange rates.
The two companies are leaders in their respective fields and are already developing joint approaches that IC manufacturers can use to improve yields in the production of the most advanced microchips. The combination will allow ASML and HMI to further integrate and enhance their product offering at an accelerated pace.
HMI has developed e-beam metrology which ASML can use to optimize its powerful design and process models. The integrated offerings will address the challenges chip makers are facing as they enter sub-10 nanometer resolutions and 3D integration, requiring chip manufacturers to apply advanced process control. This requires very dense, high resolution metrology to measure and control device performance, whereas 3D integration requires very dense, high voltage contrast metrology for process control.
HMI has multiple years of e-beam application experience and leadership in semiconductor factories, focused on high resolution and voltage contrast imaging.
“Our over-arching goal is to serve our customers even better and offer them the tools they need to achieve higher yields at the most advanced nodes. This acquisition is intended to make a strong product offering even stronger. Our metrology technologies are complementary, and when combined offer the chance to significantly improve process control, and hence yields, for our customers. Our two companies have worked together for almost two years to see how we could best combine our capabilities, and found that we could significantly improve this constructive cooperation and better serve our customer by teaming up as one company. This also means that we expect enhanced product offerings faster,” said Peter Wennink, President and Chief Executive Officer at ASML.
The transaction, which was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of ASML and HMI, will entitle each HMI shareholder to receive TWD 1,410 per share in cash. The price per share reflects a premium of 31 percent over HMI’s 30-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP).
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