Samsung Electronics says it plans to borrow roughly a billion dollars to fund operations at its chip-making facility in Austin. The Austin factory produces the A5 processor that powers Apple’s iPhone 4S and iPad 2, so while Samsung competes with Apple in the smartphone market, the Korean giant counts Apple as an important customer for its chip-making business. Samsung also produces NAND flash memory chips in Austin.
Samsung is in the process of finding a lead bank to manage the 5-year notes in what would be the company’s first international bond offer in more than 10 years.
Samsung, which recently vowed to unseat Nokia as the world leader in mobile phone sales, is already selling more smartphones worldwide than any of its competitors. The company posted record earnings of $4.5 billion for the quarter ended in December, and has almost $20 billion in cash on hand, so its borrowing plans may be motivated by low interest rates rather than a need for cash.
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