I'm sure there were no surprises when the White House announced the President had said there would be no deal between Canyon Bridge Capital Partners and the chip maker Lattice Semiconductor Corp. A Reuters article says " Portland, Oregon-based Lattice makes chips known as field-programmable gate arrays, which allow companies to put their own software on silicon chips for different uses."
The Wall Street Journal article mentions a couple of things of note. First, Congress is writing a bill to strengthen CFIUS which is woefully behind in running down these kinds of deals and putting a stop to them. In 2015-2016, China was on a tear to get US chip making companies and bought 6 related to various types. Second, there was an inference in the discussions that Canyon Bridge may have tried to obscure its Chinese government control. Just in case anyone wondered, there are no "independent" companies in China. They look like any other global company, but there is always some government control. They want to look like they are independent of government control.
It was sad to see Lattice CEO Darin Billerbeck backing he deal right up to the end, even inferring the decisions hinged on the current Administration's unwillingness to do any deals with China. Really? When did they stop being our biggest trading partner?
Watch now for joint ventures or licensing agreements between the two. The Chinese are not going to give up just because we don't approve of a deal. And, it appears, they have a company leadership willing to help them.
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