The billion dollar takeover of the German semiconductor company Siltronic by the Taiwanese competitor Globalwafers is apparently about to be approved by the Chinese competition authority.

The sale of the Munich company is only dependent on the approval of the Federal Ministry of Economics.

All permits must be received by January 31, otherwise the sale will collapse.  

“We are still waiting for the final approval in China. But all questions have been answered, ”said the CEO of Globalwafers, Doris Hsu, on Tuesday of the FAZ. Apparently it is only a technical procedure. Hsu spoke of a constructive discussion with China. Hsu denied fears that the Chinese regulator, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), would be guided by industrial policy considerations in the face of international competition. 

The takeover would make Globalwafers the second largest manufacturer and supplier of silicon wafers in the world after the Japanese Shin-Etsu group.

The acquisition, valued at just under 4.4 billion euros for Siltronic, had previously been approved by government agencies in Europe, the United States, Korea and Japan.

This means that only the Federal Ministry of Economics' permission is still pending. 

“Globalwafers' headquarters are in Taiwan.

Maybe that's part of the concern "

Hsu told the FAZ: “We are pro-active and in constructive discussions with the responsible authorities.

The self-declared goal of the new government in Berlin is to turn Europe into a powerhouse for chip production in order to become sovereign again in this area.

Globalwafers' headquarters are in Taiwan.

Seen in this way, we are not a European company.

Maybe that's part of the concern. " 

The takeover comes at a time when Europe is striving to make up the ground it has lost in the semiconductor industry over the past 15 years and to achieve a certain degree of independence in this key industry.

In Dresden, Germany has Europe's largest semiconductor location to date.

It plays a central role in Brussels' industrial policy.

"We value Germany for its efficiency and its high level of organization," said Hsu.

“We also know that such a takeover is very complicated in the regulatory assessment, but twelve months is a long time.

So we're a bit surprised.

We don't complain, but during such a period we could have almost completed half of a new factory. ”The Federal Ministry of Economics initially left a request from the FAZ unanswered on Tuesday.