STMicroelectronics has flirted with entering the DRAM business for many years. By acquiring Hynix, with its $7.2bn of revenues last year, STMicroelectronics would become the number two semiconductor company in the world behind Intel. For Infineon, adding Hynix's 21 per cent share of the world DRAM market to its current 9 per cent market share would make it easily the world's largest DRAM producer – dwarfing Samsung's 22 per cent share. Hynix is also trying to sell its US wafer fab in Oregon. Front-runner in the negotiations is believed to be Mosel-Vitelic of Taiwan (Infineon's partner in the Pro-Mos Technologies joint venture).