Debt-ridden Chinese chipmaker Tsinghua Unigroup needs a champion with deep pockets. A consortium led by ecommerce giant Alibaba would fit the bill. It is reported to be considering a Rmb50bn ($7.8bn) takeover. The true cost could be far higher.
Alibaba’s interest makes a certain amount of sense. Its cloud computing business is growing quickly, accounting for about a tenth of the group’s total, up 29 per cent to $2.5bn in the quarter to June compared with last year. Sourcing a stable supply of server chips matters. Supply chain constraints and the risk of Chinese companies being cut off by chipmakers based in th