Palo Alto, Aug 12: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. said that it completed buying the 54 per cent of computer maker AST Research Inc. it did not already own for $170 million.

Samsung, the Korean maker of semiconductors and personal computers, plans to revamp the development and manufacturing operations of ailing AST to make it one of the world's top five PC makers by 2005, the company said.

Samsung, a long-time investor in AST, announced in April it would pay $170 million for the 54 percent stake it did not already own. The company paid $5.40 a share for 28.54 million tendered - about 90 percent of the 31 million shares outstanding. An AST spokesman said Samsung expects to pay a total of $170 million when all the shares are tendered.

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