The Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), one of the biggest creditors of Hynix Semiconductor Inc, said yesterday that Micron Technology Inc is close to agreeing the acquisition of Hynix's DRAM business.

Recognizing that frequent rumors of imminent agreement have failed to be confirmed in the past, the KEB vp Lee Youn-soo said that "agreement in principle has been reached on many issues", and that Hynix creditors, who vetoed Micron's last $4bn offer, are "generally satisfied with the latest talks."

Boise, Idaho based Micron, which stands to become the world's biggest memory chip producer if it acquires Hynix's dram business, has generally allowed Korean participants to do the talking in public, whilst clearly playing a tough negotiating ha