Report: IBM Reject Offer For Chip Ops; Buyer Says Factories 'Too Old'

International Business Machines Corp.'s

rejected an offer for part of its semiconductor manufacturing operations, according to unnamed sources cited Friday by Bloomberg news service. An offer from Globalfoundries, owned by government of Abu Dhabi and based in California, was refused by IBM because it was too low, Bloomberg said. Similar rumors were circulated June 15 when a union seeking to represent IBM workers in New York claimed that IBM's Vice President of Microelectronics had told managers the deal had collapsed. Bloomberg said Globalfoundries wanted to acquire IBM's engineers and intellectual property, and places no value on its rather than manufacturing plants, which it believes are outdated. IBM said recently it will participate in a plan by New York State to form a chip development consortium to include General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Endicott Interconnect, and several universities. The state will spend $135 million while companies will spend $365 million over five years, on the project. IBM didn't describe its potential role in the consortium. IBM traded recently at $194.21, down 0.53 percent.