NEW YORK -- Is Big Blue seeking Sun? According to several reports today, IBM is in negotiations to buy Sun Microsystems for a sum that could exceed $6.5 billion.
Reuters, The Wall Street Journal and others are reporting Sun has been looking to be acquired but such a move would require unbundling many of the company's software, hardware and services offerings. The Journal said HP turned down a possible deal for Sun.
A wild card is Cisco, which recently announced plans to enter the data storage market and which has a history of buying and integrating large OEMs such as Scientific-Atlanta, ArrowPoint and WebEx.
The deal, if closed, would be IBM's largest acquisition, and would consolidate the server market. IBM had a 36.3% share in the fourth quarter, while Sun was fourth at 9.3%, according to research firm IDC.HP's share was 29%, Dell's was 10.6% and Fujitsu's was 4.2%.
Neither company is commenting on the rumor.
An EMS industry analyst said Benchmark is the most highly exposed EMS company to a merger. A merger would mean the firm would generate an estimated 25% of its revenue from IBM-Sun, Sherri Scribner of Deutsche Bank Equity Research wrote in a research note today. Celestica would have 15 to 20% of revenue coming from the combined company, and Sanmina-SCI and Flextronics would have 10 to 15%.
"If IBM and Sun were to combine, we would expect a limited impact to our EMS group in the short-term, as both companies heavily rely on outsourcing and options for top-tier EMS suppliers are limited," Scriber wrote. "In addition, enterprise customers are slow to shift away from entrenched hardware, and we would expect IBM to continue to support Sun platforms over the next few years. Over the longer term, we would expect enterprise customers to shift to either IBM or HP platforms. We expect this to be a modest negative to Benchmark, which has high exposure to Sun and limited exposure to HP."
EL SEGUNDO, CA — Pricing for commodity electronics components is falling at a moderate rate, but the pace of erosion reflects the fact that pricing has already hit rock bottom in many commodity categories, according to iSuppli Corp.
MUNICH--There are no signs that the PCB market in Germany is improving, according to the German Printed Circuit Association (VdL) and the German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers Association (ZVEI).
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – The SMTA and MEPTEC are combining events to create the 2009 Medical Electronics Symposia, which will be held Sept. 24 and 25 in Tempe, AZ.
Each organization will organize complementary one-day tracks of technical presentations to be held on opposite days. Attendees will have the option to attend both days of the program or purchase a one-day pass to attend individual sessions.
The symposia will cover development, reliability and quality of medical electronics, materials processing and medical electronics assembly, battery technology, environmental and worldwide regulations and more.
Both organizations will issue a call for abstracts in April.
For information, contact Melissa Serres at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The SMTA Medical Electronics Symposium, previously held in Anaheim, CA and Minneapolis, MN, is in its 6th year.
MEPTEC’s symposium, in its 4th year, has been held in Phoenix, AZ.
CHICAGO – Methode Electronics Inc. reported a third-quarter net loss of $27 million, compared to a net income of $9.8 million year-over-year. The decline is due to a $32.7 million charge for impairment of goodwill and intangible assets, $3.8 million in restructuring charges and weakened market capitalization.
EL SEGUNDO, CA — Global mobile internet device unit shipments expected to expand by nearly a factor of eight from 2007 to 2012, according to iSuppli Corp.
