(Reuters) – Contract chipmaker Globalfoundries has emerged as the leading candidate to buy IBM’s semiconductor operations, edging out Intel Corp, the Wall Street Journal cited unidentified sources as saying on Thursday.
IBM had held discussions with those two companies as well as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, but California-based Globalfoundries showed keener interest and TSMC ultimately dropped out for unspecified reasons, the Journal cited people familiar with the matter as saying.
IBM had asked for $2 billion but potential bidders offered more than $1 billion, the newspaper added. Globalfoundries, IBM, TSMC and Intel were not immediately available for comment.
