U.S. chip equipment maker Applied Materials Inc. has agreed to acquire Japanese peer Kokusai Electric for $2.2 billion from KKR & Co Inc.
The deal will be financed by a combination of cash and debt , as mentioned by Applied Materials. Less than two years ago, KKR purchased Hitachi Kokusai in a $2.2 billion deal.
Samsung SK Hynix, Toshiba and Micron are some of the major customers of Kokusai. As of March 2018, Kokusai generated revenue of $1.24 billion.
According to Japan's Nikkei business newspaper, the acquisition would boost Applied Materials’ semiconductor equipment market share to over 20%.