Foxconn and TSMC Team Up to Bid on Toshiba's NAND Flash Unit

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Foxconn, two companies who work with Apple, are teaming up to place a bid for a stake in Toshiba's memory chip unit according to Chinese site Liberty Times (via DigiTimes).

The partnership could perhaps give TSMC and Foxconn the tools to gain a serious foothold in the flash memory market that's currently dominated by Samsung.

Via the cooperation, the report claimed, TSMC will be able to challenge Korea-based Samsung Electronics' leadership in the flash memory market, allowing the pure-play foundry house to achieve a new wave of growth. The two companies' bidding team is currently in Japan aggressively preparing for document submission prior to the March 29 first-round bidding.

Bidding is set to start on March 29, and Foxconn and TSMC are said to have representatives in Japan that are preparing to place a bid. According to Foxconn chairman Terry Guo, the company is interested in pushing into the flash memory industry as storage demands will increase as screen resolutions go up.

Guo says Foxconn is highly interested in Toshiba's memory business and would be willing to use the same business strategy it adopted when partnering with Sharp -- keeping the business intact. Foxconn purchased Sharp in 2016 and has since begun using the business to build OLED displays, perhaps for future iPhones.

Toshiba is planning to sell a portion of its flash memory unit to raise funds to cover a significant $6.3 billion loss, with the company planning to split off the memory unit from the main business on April 1, 2017. Toshiba originally hoped to sell a minority stake in the business, but later said it would consider selling most, or all, of the new flash unit.

Apple, SK Hynix, Western Digital, and Micron Technology have also been named as parties potentially interested in acquiring Toshiba's memory business.

Tags: TSMC, Foxconn, Toshiba

Top Rated Comments

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keysofanxiety

37 months ago

This really is such a shame. Just one year ago, Toshiba used to be a much different company.

This was a company who had really good relationships with business partners, next day parts shipping, great legacy support, and generally offered fairly sturdy, serviceable laptops. They were paving for a stable long term future after buying OCZ's SSD business.

Sadly it almost immediately went down the gutter after they were found to be cooking their books. Consumer laptops were discontinued, consumer support went down the drain, business support went completely silent, and Weblord parts seemingly fluctuated overnight between 3 weeks and indefinite ETAs.

They're now joining the has-been ranks of Yahoo, RIM, and Nokia. It's tough to watch as they were quite a fair company and easy to deal with. :(

Rating: 5 Votes

now i see it

37 months ago

Goes to show how all these multi-billion dollar tech companies can fall like a house of cards in no time. None of them are immune.

Rating: 2 Votes

justperry

37 months ago

Snip...
Sadly it almost immediately went down the gutter after they were found to be cooking their books. Consumer laptops were discontinued, consumer support went down the drain, business support went completely silent, and Weblord parts seemingly fluctuated overnight between 3 weeks and indefinite ETAs.

They're now joining the has-been ranks of Yahoo, RIM, and Nokia. It's tough to watch as they were quite a fair company and easy to deal with. :( /Snip...

Informative post, thanks.
But what is a Weblord.:confused:

Rating: 2 Votes

keysofanxiety

37 months ago

Informative post, thanks.
But what is a Weblord.:confused:

Weblord is the online Toshiba portal for authorised service partners used to order parts, carry out warranty repairs, etc. :)

Rating: 2 Votes

dampfnudel

37 months ago

There is no faultless laptop.

Apple used to have issues (https://www.apple.com/uk/support/macbookpro-videoissues/), will have issues currently and will have issues in the future. The 2016 machines we have at work are suffering from none of the issues you describe.

Likewise some people with the XPS have had issues - https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/4bcjpx/does_anyone_have_a_xps_13_9350_without_any/

Surface owners have hit faults (particularly the Pro and the battery) - http://www.pcworld.com/article/3123032/hardware/surface-pro-3-owners-plagued-by-more-battery-problems.html

Etc. etc.

But a general rule of thumb I have with many products is wait for Gen 2 of a new model line. (Sometimes if it's a completely new category it's been worth the risk - original iPhone, Apple Watch - other times it's not - OG iPad, but YMMV).

====================

I had a Toshiba TV that was well priced, spec'd and worked fine for many years. The scandals are sad to hear about - especially the effect they've had on the company.

I fully agree with your rule of thumb to wait for gen 2, even for the Apple Watch in my opinion because I think the first gen (Series 1) was underpowered. As for laptops, any laptop can have issues, but you have to admit that the late 2016 MBP is a good example of "it pays to wait" even if you're not experiencing issues, others including one person I know have issues. Hopefully Apple will be able to use the form-fitting battery that was originally designed and optimized for the late 2016 MBP for the 2017 models. Anyway, Dell and HP have come far with their premium lines.

Rating: 1 Votes

dampfnudel

37 months ago

Toshiba had been hugely popular here in Mexico. Toshiba was the go to laptop for just about everyone. Good quality also.

Yeah, I remember recommending Toshiba to someone who wanted a new laptop. This was about 10 years ago when if you wanted a quality laptop, it was basically Apple, Sony or Toshiba. Now Toshiba and Sony are both struggling to make it to the next decade while the quality of Apple's new MBP is questionable with a less than optimized battery, screen issues, etc. compounded by high prices that don't seem to be justified by what you're getting. Now, for Windows, my recommendation is Dell XPS, HP Spectre, maybe MS Surface. For macOS, it's wait for the Kaby Lake refresh later this year.

Rating: 1 Votes

justperry

37 months ago

Weblord is the online Toshiba portal for authorised service partners used to order parts, carry out warranty repairs, etc. :)

I thought it was a typo, again, thanks.

Rating: 1 Votes

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