Spansion exited Chapter 11, rebuilt, and sold to Cypress for $1.6B

Spansion, a flash-memory maker spun out of the AMD-Fujitsu joint venture in 2005, filed for Chapter 11 in March 2009 as the global recession crushed electronics demand and the NOR flash market's economics turned against it. Its shares were delisted as it restructured.

On May 10, 2010 Spansion emerged from Chapter 11, announcing it was a well-capitalized company with less than $480 million of debt and about $230 million in cash. Its stock resumed trading on the NYSE on June 22, 2010, and it refocused on embedded flash and microcontroller adjacent markets.

By 2013 Spansion had rebuilt annual revenue to $972 million. On December 1, 2014 Cypress Semiconductor agreed to buy it in an all-stock deal worth about $1.6 billion, valuing the combined company at $4 billion, creating a microcontrollers-and-flash specialist with more than $2 billion of annual sales.

Spansion emerged with under $480 million of debt and ~$230 million cash, rebuilt revenue to $972 million by 2013, and sold to Cypress for $1.6 billion.

Emerging with under $480 million of debt let Spansion fund product development instead of servicing creditors.

A focused embedded-flash portfolio aligned with rising automotive and industrial demand.

Revenue rebuilding to $972 million by 2013 made the company an attractive acquisition target.

Cypress paid in stock, valuing the combined business at $4 billion and giving shareholders roughly half the new company.

A chipmaker can exit Chapter 11 smaller and unleveraged, then rebuild enough value to become a buyer's target rather than a distressed seller.

Cypress completed the Spansion acquisition in 2015, combining Spansion's NOR flash and Cypress's microcontrollers. The merged company targeted automotive and industrial markets, and Cypress was later acquired by Infineon in 2020. Spansion is cited as a case where a bankruptcy exit produced a valuable, sellable chipmaker.