TOKYO, May 5: US-based semiconductor maker Micron Technology is likely to buy ailing Japanese rival Elpida Memory for 200 billion yen ($2.5 billion), a newspaper said on Saturday.

Micron, the world’s fourth largest chipmaker, made the “most favorable offers” in the bidding on May 4, and Elpida “highly praised” them, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported, quoting unnamed sources.

South Korea’s SK Hynix, the world’s second largest microchip maker, dropped its bid, while offers made by a group of US and Chinese investment funds appeared less attractive for Elpida, Yomiuri said.

Elpida’s administrators will provide Micron with the right to negotiate with Elpida as early as Monday so that the two sides can discuss details before finalising the deal, it said.

Immediate confirmation of the report was not available.

Elpida, one of the world’s top microchip makers, was delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange late March in the biggest corporate failure in Japanese manufacturing history.

The troubled firm, which had stayed alive thanks to a 2009 government-backed rescue plan, filed for bankruptcy protection in late February with crushing debts of 448 billion yen.—AFP