Modem pioneer Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc has said it is in merger talks with Micronics Inc, a specialist designer of motherboards and peripherals for personal computers. The talks are on going and no deal has yet been closed. The two companies announced the possibility of the merger following a sharp upturn in the number of its shares trading last week. Our 52-week low was less than $2 and now it is pushing $4. Volume was at 100,000 a day, and this week around 2 million will have changed hands, Greg Wilson at Micronics told ComputerWire last Friday. The benefits of a merger, however, are far from clear. There is little crossover between product areas, as Hayes has long been an analog modem specialist extending its offering to include Digital Subscriber Line, ISDN and cable modem equipment only recently. Aside from motherboards, Micronics also develops video cards to boost PC graphics performance. One suggestion has been that Hayes may be looking to try to integrate its modem technology at the motherboard level for the emerging Network Computer market. Micronics itself would say nothing other than the two shared the same distribution channels. Last year, 71% of Micronics sales went to three key customers, Micron Technology Inc, Electronic Data Systems Corp and IBM Corp. Micronics lost $13.3m in fiscal year 1996 on sales of $171.3m. In March, Hayes acquired Cardinal Technologies Inc for an undisclosed sum (CI No 3,121).
