De ayer a hoy: Seagate podría ser china

The New York Times informa que "una compañía china" está intentando comprar Seagate, en lo que podría ser una oferta hostíl, ya que la empresa no está en venta, pero "si el valor ofrecido por la acción es alto, será casi imposible impedirlo". Las empresas chinas están hoy en posición de poder comprar compañías en el mundo desarrollado (en cualquier parte, en realidad). NY Times señala preocupación gubernamental por la entrega de alta tecnología a China:

With a booming economy and $1.33 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves, Chinese companies are in a position to acquire American companies, as Japanese and West European companies were several decades ago. While those earlier acquisitions were often opposed out of fears that they would damage American economic competitiveness, the acquisition of American companies by Chinese companies is regarded with more suspicion, particularly in the high-tech sector.

Since the Lenovo sale, the government has become increasingly concerned about technology security, according to members of federal advisory committees.

“Seagate would be extremely sensitive,” said an industry executive who participates in classified government advisory groups. “I do not think anyone in the U.S. wants the Chinese to have access to the controller chips for a disk drive. One never knows what the Chinese could do to instrument the drive.”

The transfer of advanced disk drive manufacturing technology would give the Chinese a major leg up in competing in information technologies. China, however, still lags in basic manufacturing skills like semiconductor design and manufacturing.