<\/strong>
SHANGHAI: Tsinghua Unigroup<\/a>, a Chinese conglomerate that has long sought to become a semiconductor powerhouse, is now caught between a rock and a hard place as debt woes mount while key chip units are failing to thrive, sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Best known for an unsuccessful $23 billion bid for U.S. chipmaker Micron Technology Inc in 2015, Unigroup in November shocked investors with a default on a 1.3 billion yuan ($200 million) bond. Including that bond, Unigroup has now either defaulted or had cross-defaults triggered on seven onshore and offshore bonds worth about $3.6 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
The state-backed conglomerate, which has warned it may not be able to make upcoming bond payments, had some $31 billion in debt as of late June, more than half of which was due to mature in a year's time, filings show. In contrast, it had roughly $8 billion in cash and cash equivalents.
The crisis has raised questions about Unigroup's long-term stability and how much backing the conglomerate, which is 51% owned by Tsinghua University, will continue to be given by Beijing. The central government, keen to develop a weak domestic chip industry, has invested billions of dollars in Unigroup projects as well as in other chipmakers such as SMIC<\/a>.
Unigroup's efforts to raise more capital have, however, been stymied by the university's attempts to offload its stake, in line with a change in government policy in 2018 which called for higher education institutes to divest their business holdings.
Many banks have been reluctant to lend money because Unigroup may soon be without its parent company but at the same time, it can't easily find a new strategic investor due to its heavy debt load, said a source with knowledge of the matter.
\"And lots of the company's subsidiaries are still not mature enough to go to capital markets, and not mature enough to generate positive cash flow,\" the source said.
Some attempts to sell the university's stake to local authorities, such as the Shenzhen government, have fallen through, according to public filings. Sources familiar with the matter said Unigroup is continuing talks with other local governments about potential investment.
Sources were not authorised to speak to media and declined to be identified. Unigroup did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
In 2015, Unigroup Chairman Zhao Weiguo declared he would spend $47 billion in five years to turn the company, then a little-known maker of chemicals and scanners, into China's next chip giant, primarily through acquisitions.
But three sources - all current or former senior officials within Unigroup - told Reuters its chip units have not generated hoped-for revenue and its investment strategy was haphazard, with too much money going into unrelated, often unprofitable businesses ranging from real estate to online gambling and an Indian phone maker.
\"A majority of the company's investments are pretty poor, and that's how they got themselves into this kind of trouble,\" said a former Unigroup executive involved in investment.
Unlisted Unigroup does not break down its revenue and profit figures in detail. According to bond analysis firm YY Ratings, chips accounted for at most 20% of Unigroup's 332 billion yuan in revenue for the first half of 2019, with 69% coming from servers and IT equipment.
CHIP STRUGGLES
<\/strong>
Its unit Unisoc, a maker of logic chips for mobile phones, is emblematic of the company's problems. Formerly called Spreadtrum, it was acquired for $1.8 billion in 2013 and its promise then was such that it attracted a $1.5 billion investment from Intel Corp<\/a> a year later.
But Unisoc struggled after losing Samsung<\/a> Electronics Ltd as a client when the Korean giant reorganised its parts procurement, according to a former Unisoc executive.
As the high-end smartphone sector consolidated, Unisoc was left with mostly inexpensive, third-tier brands as customers.
\"If you don't have a top tier customer like Apple<\/a>, Samsung or Xiaomi<\/a>, it puts a lot of pressure on the financial side,\" said the former executive.
Unisoc then scrambled to diversify into the Internet of Things, automotive chips and even bitcoin mining.
Another major investment that has yet to prosper is YMTC, which Unigroup founded in 2016 with state-backed funding, marking China's entry into the cut-throat market for NAND chips.
YMTC has since begun mass production of 64-layer NAND flash chips and recently announced it has developed 128-layer NAND flash, which technologically would bring it close to Samsung and SK Hynix.
But in an industry dominated by rivals with decades-long relationships with customers, its market share remains tiny, one of the sources said.
Gu Wenjun, an analyst at research firm ICWise, says that despite its technological strides, YMTC is not competitive due to weak economies of scale and must improve its yields. He estimates that getting to a 20% market share would require an additional $100 billion in investment.
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观点:中国未来的芯片亲爱的清华Unigroup受困于债务和坏账
最出名的一次不成功的以230亿美元收购美国芯片制造商美光科技公司,2015年11月Unigroup震惊了投资者和一个默认的13亿元(2亿美元)的债券。
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乔希·霍维兹
上海:清华Unigroup中国半导体企业,长期以来一直试图成为一个强国,现在夹在岩石之间,随着债务危机加剧而关键芯片单位未能茁壮成长,消息人士说。
最出名的一次不成功的以230亿美元收购美国芯片制造商美光科技公司,2015年11月Unigroup震惊了投资者和一个默认的13亿元(2亿美元)的债券。包括债券,Unigroup已经违约或交叉违约触发7在岸和离岸债券价值约36亿美元,据Refinitiv数据。
国有企业集团,已警告称,可能无法支付即将到来的债券,有310亿美元的债务截至6月底,其中一半以上是由于成熟在一年的时间,申请。相反,它有大约80亿美元的现金和现金等价物。
危机已经质疑Unigroup的长期稳定和支持多少集团持股51%的由清华大学将继续由北京。中央政府,希望开发一个疲弱的国内芯片行业,投资数十亿美元的Unigroup项目以及其他芯片制造商等中芯国际。
Unigroup筹集更多资金的努力,然而,是由大学试图出售其股份,符合政府政策的变化在2018年呼吁高等教育机构剥离他们的商业资产。
许多银行不愿放贷,因为Unigroup可能很快就会没有母公司,但同时,它不能很容易找到一个新的战略投资者由于其沉重的债务负担,源与知识的表示。
”,很多公司的子公司仍不够成熟去资本市场不够成熟,产生正现金流,”该消息人士称。
尝试一些大学的股份卖给当地政府,如深圳市政府,已经通过,根据公共文件。知情人士说,Unigroup继续与其他地方政府对潜在投资。
来源没有授权向媒体和拒绝透露姓名。Unigroup没有回应路透社记者请其置评的请求。
2015年,赵董事长Unigroup上海市宣布他将在五年内将花费470亿美元,然后一个鲜为人知的化学品和扫描仪制造商进入中国的下一个芯片巨头,主要通过收购。
但三源- Unigroup内所有现任或前任高级官员告诉路透芯片生成单位没有期望收入和投资策略是偶然的,用太多的钱进入不相关,经常亏损的业务从房地产到在线赌博和印度手机制造商。
“大多数公司的投资是非常贫穷,这就是他们自己陷入这样的困境,”前Unigroup高管表示参与投资。
未上市Unigroup不详细分解其营收和利润数据。据分析公司债券YY评级,芯片Unigroup最多占20%的2019年上半年的3320亿元收入,69%来自服务器和设备。
芯片的斗争
其单位Unisoc,手机的逻辑芯片制造商,象征着公司的问题。以前称为展讯,它在18亿年以2013美元收购和它的承诺,它吸引了15亿美元的投资英特尔(intc . o:行情)一年后。
但在失去Unisoc挣扎三星电子有限公司客户当韩国巨头重组其部分采购,根据Unisoc前高管。
随着高端智能手机部门合并,Unisoc剩下的主要是便宜,三线品牌的客户。
“如果你没有这样的顶级客户苹果、三星或小米,它把一个很大的压力在金融方面,”这位前高管表示。
Unisoc然后争先恐后地分散到物联网,甚至汽车芯片和比特币矿业。
尚未成功的另一个重大投资是YMTC,与国有资金Unigroup成立于2016年,标志着中国进入残酷的NAND闪存芯片市场。
YMTC已经开始大规模生产64 -层NAND闪存芯片和最近宣布,它已经开发了128 -层NAND闪存,这技术会带来接近三星和SK海力士。
但在这个行业占据主导地位的竞争对手与数十年与顾客之间的关系,它的市场份额仍然很小,一名消息人士说。
顾蒙牛ICWise研究公司的分析师说,尽管其技术进步,YMTC不是竞争由于规模经济疲软,必须提高其产量。他估计达到20%的市场份额需要额外的1000亿美元的投资。
上海:清华Unigroup中国半导体企业,长期以来一直试图成为一个强国,现在夹在岩石之间,随着债务危机加剧而关键芯片单位未能茁壮成长,消息人士说。
最出名的一次不成功的以230亿美元收购美国芯片制造商美光科技公司,2015年11月Unigroup震惊了投资者和一个默认的13亿元(2亿美元)的债券。包括债券,Unigroup已经违约或交叉违约触发7在岸和离岸债券价值约36亿美元,据Refinitiv数据。
国有企业集团,已警告称,可能无法支付即将到来的债券,有310亿美元的债务截至6月底,其中一半以上是由于成熟在一年的时间,申请。相反,它有大约80亿美元的现金和现金等价物。
危机已经质疑Unigroup的长期稳定和支持多少集团持股51%的由清华大学将继续由北京。中央政府,希望开发一个疲弱的国内芯片行业,投资数十亿美元的Unigroup项目以及其他芯片制造商等中芯国际。
Unigroup筹集更多资金的努力,然而,是由大学试图出售其股份,符合政府政策的变化在2018年呼吁高等教育机构剥离他们的商业资产。
许多银行不愿放贷,因为Unigroup可能很快就会没有母公司,但同时,它不能很容易找到一个新的战略投资者由于其沉重的债务负担,源与知识的表示。
”,很多公司的子公司仍不够成熟去资本市场不够成熟,产生正现金流,”该消息人士称。
尝试一些大学的股份卖给当地政府,如深圳市政府,已经通过,根据公共文件。知情人士说,Unigroup继续与其他地方政府对潜在投资。
来源没有授权向媒体和拒绝透露姓名。Unigroup没有回应路透社记者请其置评的请求。
2015年,赵董事长Unigroup上海市宣布他将在五年内将花费470亿美元,然后一个鲜为人知的化学品和扫描仪制造商进入中国的下一个芯片巨头,主要通过收购。
但三源- Unigroup内所有现任或前任高级官员告诉路透芯片生成单位没有期望收入和投资策略是偶然的,用太多的钱进入不相关,经常亏损的业务从房地产到在线赌博和印度手机制造商。
“大多数公司的投资是非常贫穷,这就是他们自己陷入这样的困境,”前Unigroup高管表示参与投资。
未上市Unigroup不详细分解其营收和利润数据。据分析公司债券YY评级,芯片Unigroup最多占20%的2019年上半年的3320亿元收入,69%来自服务器和设备。
芯片的斗争
其单位Unisoc,手机的逻辑芯片制造商,象征着公司的问题。以前称为展讯,它在18亿年以2013美元收购和它的承诺,它吸引了15亿美元的投资英特尔(intc . o:行情)一年后。
但在失去Unisoc挣扎三星电子有限公司客户当韩国巨头重组其部分采购,根据Unisoc前高管。
随着高端智能手机部门合并,Unisoc剩下的主要是便宜,三线品牌的客户。
“如果你没有这样的顶级客户苹果、三星或小米,它把一个很大的压力在金融方面,”这位前高管表示。
Unisoc然后争先恐后地分散到物联网,甚至汽车芯片和比特币矿业。
尚未成功的另一个重大投资是YMTC,与国有资金Unigroup成立于2016年,标志着中国进入残酷的NAND闪存芯片市场。
YMTC已经开始大规模生产64 -层NAND闪存芯片和最近宣布,它已经开发了128 -层NAND闪存,这技术会带来接近三星和SK海力士。
但在这个行业占据主导地位的竞争对手与数十年与顾客之间的关系,它的市场份额仍然很小,一名消息人士说。
顾蒙牛ICWise研究公司的分析师说,尽管其技术进步,YMTC不是竞争由于规模经济疲软,必须提高其产量。他估计达到20%的市场份额需要额外的1000亿美元的投资。
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