Micron's JV in Taiwan to appoint new chairman this month

TAIPEI, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Inotera Memories Inc, Micron Technology Inc's joint venture in Taiwan, said on Monday it would appoint a replacement for its Chairman Charles Kau later this month.

The announcement came after Kau joined Tsinghua Unigroup as global executive vice president.

Tsinghua Unigroup, China's state-backed technology conglomerate, had made an informal $23 billion takeover offer for Micron that was rejected out-of-hand by the Idaho-based company's leadership.

Last month, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters that Tsinghua Unigroup hired Kau, who played a role in the discussions between Tsinghua and Micron, as its global executive vice president.

Kau had already stepped down from his position as president of Nanya Technology Corp, the Taiwanese partner of Micron in the JV.

Inotera said in a statement that Kau's removal was effective from Sunday and that his board seat at Inotera would be filled by Pei-Ing Lee, president of Nanya.

Inotera is due to hold a regular board meeting this month to elect a new chairman.

Tsinghua Unigroup has been active in recent acquisitions aimed to accelerate the development of China's fledgling chip industry.

On Friday, the Chinese group said it was taking a 25 percent stake in Powertech Technology Inc for $600 million, becoming the largest shareholder in the Taiwanese chip packaging and testing company. The deal is pending approval from Powertech shareholders and Taiwanese regulators.

(Reporting by J.R. Wu; Editing by Anand Basu)