After months of negotiations, Toshiba has decided to sell its memory chip unit to a global consortium that includes Bain Capital, SK Hynix, Dell, and Apple, reports Reuters.

No official announcement has been made by Toshiba as of yet, but the company is expected to announce the sale on Wednesday. As of Tuesday, Toshiba was said to be leaning towards a group backed by Western Digital, but Western Digital is said to have failed to agree to some of Toshiba's terms regarding limits on WD's future stake in the business.

toshiba
Western Digital may still attempt to block the sale and is said to be prepared to seek a court injunction to stop it. Western Digital previously invested in Toshiba's semiconductor plant and claims its consent is required for the sale.

Toshiba first announced plans to sell its NAND flash memory unit in January of 2017 to raise funds to cover losses associated with its U.S. nuclear subsidiary, Westinghouse. Many companies, including TSMC, Foxconn, Amazon, Google, Broadcom, and a range of private equity firms entered bids in an effort to get a piece of the memory chip unit.

The consortium, led by Bain Capital, was selected as the preferred bidder in June, and in September, entered a higher bid amid fierce competition. Apple, SK Hynix, Dell, and Bain Capital are said to have offered a combined 2.4 trillion yen, equivalent to $22 billion, along with an additional 200 billion yen for infrastructure.

As of early September, Bain and SK Hynix were said to be providing a total of 567.5 billion yen, while Apple was reported to be offering 335 billion yen, equivalent to $3 billion. That sum is in line with reports suggesting Apple was prepared to spend several billion dollars for a "substantial stake" in the memory business.

Bain, Apple, Dell, and SK Hynix will own a combined 49.9 percent stake in the chip unit, with Toshiba keeping 40 percent and Japanese firms controlling the other 10.1 percent should the sale go through.

Apple already uses Toshiba's flash memory in its products. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus include memory sourced from both Toshiba and SK Hynix.

Tag: Toshiba

Top Rated Comments

Michaelgtrusa Avatar
79 months ago
Better this way than some other offers.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ApfelKuchen Avatar
79 months ago
This won't be over 'til Western Digital has its day in court (or is that mediation?), sometime in 2018.

Overall, I find this interesting. It's a measure of the importance of the way in which chipmakers are approaching the manufacture of Flash. Clearly, companies like Apple and Dell can't trust the chipmakers to expand Flash production capacity sufficiently to lead to a drop in demand-driven pricing (like OPEC deciding how much petroleum to pump).

I once worked for a media company that owned large newspapers. They did something similar, buying part-ownership of paper mills to assure a stable supply.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macs4nw Avatar
79 months ago
If this goes through, it should give Apple even more priority access to the vast amounts of required flash memory, than they already have, especially with SK Hynix in the mix also.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kabeyun Avatar
79 months ago
This won't be over 'til Western Digital has its day in court (or is that mediation?), sometime in 2018.

Overall, I find this interesting. It's a measure of the importance of the way in which chipmakers are approaching the manufacture of Flash. Clearly, companies like Apple and Dell can't trust the chipmakers to expand Flash production capacity sufficiently to lead to a drop in demand-driven pricing (like OPEC deciding how much petroleum to pump).

I once worked for a media company that owned large newspapers. They did something similar, buying part-ownership of paper mills to assure a stable supply.
Back when Tim Cook was running supply chain for Steve Jobs he was a master of buying up NAND to the point where competitors had difficulty maintaining end product volumes. This was before Samsungs and Huaweis and Xiaomis and LGs. Now, iPhone isn't the defacto smartphone anymore and I think it makes sense to own a piece of that supply chain rather than count on satisfactory contracts.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Glassed Silver Avatar
79 months ago
This won't be over 'til Western Digital has its day in court (or is that mediation?), sometime in 2018.

Overall, I find this interesting. It's a measure of the importance of the way in which chipmakers are approaching the manufacture of Flash. Clearly, companies like Apple and Dell can't trust the chipmakers to expand Flash production capacity sufficiently to lead to a drop in demand-driven pricing (like OPEC deciding how much petroleum to pump).

I once worked for a media company that owned large newspapers. They did something similar, buying part-ownership of paper mills to assure a stable supply.
Right on the money.

It's ridiculous how NAND is basically the oil of the 21st century, let's hope this whole situation will get better in the mid-run.

Demand for storage is ever increasing and we are entering a period where, if supply was better, could soon replace HDDs with NAND for good, ESPECIALLY as we approach the peak of what is possible with HDDs nowadays. Not everyone wants to look at SMR technology as a good compromise of density, price and speed.

Glassed Silver:win
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cube Avatar
79 months ago
Dude, you're getting a Dell! (and Apple).
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 17

Apple Releases iOS 17.0.2 and iPadOS 17.0.2 for All iPhones and iPads

Tuesday September 26, 2023 12:47 pm PDT by
Apple today released iOS 17.0.2 and iPadOS 17.0.2 updates, with the software coming five days after the releases of iOS 17.0.1 and iPadOS 17.0.1. Today's iOS 17.0.2 and iPadOS 17.0.2 updates arrive as build 21A351 and can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Note that iOS 17.0.2 was previously made available for iPhone...
Apple WWDC23 macOS Sonoma hero

macOS Sonoma Launching This Week With These New Features

Sunday September 24, 2023 12:45 pm PDT by
Apple previously announced that macOS Sonoma will be released this Tuesday, September 26. The free software update includes many new features and changes for the Mac, including the five that we have highlighted below. In addition to these five features, we have shared the full release notes for macOS Sonoma below for a complete overview of everything new. Desktop Widgets macOS Sonoma...
iPhone 15 Pro Lineup Feature

Kuo: iPhone 15 Pro Overheating Issues Likely Due to Thermal Compromises, Not 3nm Node

Tuesday September 26, 2023 9:12 am PDT by
Complaints about heat issues with the iPhone 15 Pro models are not related to TSMC's 3-nanometer node that was used for the A17 Pro chip, according to well-respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Kuo says that overheating could be caused by "compromises made in the thermal system design" that allowed Apple to cut down on the weight of the iPhone 15 Pro models. Kuo says that the reduced heat...
iPhone 16 Side Feature

iPhone 16 to Include an Additional Capacitive 'Capture' Button

Monday September 25, 2023 12:50 pm PDT by
The iPhone 16 series is expected to gain an additional capacitive button, known internally as the "Capture Button." Codenamed "Project Nova," the button is likely to be one of the main selling points of the iPhone 16 lineup, assuming it gets past the initial testing phase. The Capture Button is located on the same side as the Power button, only positioned slightly lower - where the mmWave cutout...
ipad mini blue

Apple to Launch iPad Mini 7 Later This Year, Industry Report Suggests

Monday September 25, 2023 3:16 am PDT by
Apple could be preparing to release a seventh-generation iPad mini before the end of the year, based on a new report by DigiTimes. In an article discussing stagnating global tablet demand in the second half of 2023, the Taiwan-based outlet forecasts an uptick in Apple's share of the market owing to orders for a "small-size" iPad in the fourth quarter. From the report (see bold): In the...
macos sonoma 4

Apple Releases macOS Sonoma With New Widget Features, Safari Updates, Screen Sharing Improvements and More

Tuesday September 26, 2023 10:01 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS 14 Sonoma, the newest version of the operating system that runs on the Mac. macOS Sonoma has been in beta testing for several months, and it is compatible with the 2019 and later iMac, the iMac Pro, the 2018 and later Mac mini, the 2018 and later MacBook Pro, the 2019 and later Mac Pro, and the Mac Studio. The ‌macOS Sonoma update can be downloaded for free on...