Sanan Optoelectronics, China’s largest LED chipmaker, has abandoned its $239 million bid to acquire Dutch lighting firm Lumileds after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) ruled the deal posed “irresolvable U.S. national security risks,” the South China Morning Post reported.
This marks the second time in 10 years that CFIUS has torpedoed a Chinese attempt to buy Lumileds, and it comes amid a deepening governance crisis at Sanan itself.
The issue CFIUS seems to have is that Lumileds’ product portfolio relies on compound semiconductor material gallium nitride (GaN) chips, which have significant military applications, including for radar systems for antiballistic missiles and in the U.S. Air Force’s Space Fence orbital debris tracking system.
Wud? GaN technology is everywhere these days, including in tons of USB chargers imported from China. That can’t be the real reason.