BUILDING ON THE PAST, READY FOR THE FUTURE: - MEMC

Missouri Governor John Ashcroft with Roger McDaniel,
first CEO of MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc., 1989.
they really weren’t losing the technology
because it was already there.”
This was the first time the law was
invoked, and despite concerns expressed
by representatives of the departments of
Commerce and Defense, the Committee
on Foreign Investment in the United States
(CFIUS) voted unanimously to support
the sale. Two primary factors contributed to this
decision. First, Hüls assured CFIUS that they were
committed to keeping the silicon wafer business in
the United States. Second was the announcement that
the company would be managed by a combination
of current executives as well as Hüls officials.
On February 7, 1989, then-president George H. Bush
announced that he had given his permission for the
sale of Monsanto Electronic Materials Company
to Hüls AG. The West German government had
already granted approval for the sale. All that
remained to finish negotiations was approval from
the governments of Japan and Malaysia where
Monsanto Electronic Materials Company had
manufacturing sites. Within a couple months of
President Bush’s approval, the sale was finalized.
Shortly thereafter, Dongbu Industrial Company
took full ownership of an earlier joint venture
between themselves and Monsanto located in the
Republic of Korea, named Korsil. Hüls, who already
owned the DNS facilities in Merano and Novara,
Italy, prudently closed down wafer-making plants
in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and
Milton Keynes, England, in May of 1989.
The new company, MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc.,
was now the second largest manufacturer of silicon
wafers in the world. With Dr. Roger McDaniel
named as president and CEO, MEMC launched an
entirely new era in the company’s history.
MEMC made plans to build a 20,000-square-foot
addition to the St. Peters plant to house its new
world headquarters. When then Missouri governor
John Ashcroft visited the plant, he commented,
“The combination of Monsanto and DNS makes
MEMC a major player in the world market for this
highly specialized product and makes Missouri a
world leader in this business.”
In the ensuing years following the sale to Hüls,
MEMC entered into some strategic alliances
and joint ventures, both in the United States and
abroad, to enhance their position in the world
silicon market.
Sources:
St. Louis Post Dispatch, May 2, 1990
St. Louis Post Dispatch, June 25, 1990
St. Louis Business Journal, April 23, 1990
Semiconductor International, October 1992
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utsunomiya
Great Strides in Technology 49