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
85 months ago
Better this way than some other offers.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ApfelKuchen Avatar
85 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
85 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
85 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
85 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
85 months ago
Dude, you're getting a Dell! (and Apple).
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
maxresdefault

Apple to Launch New iPad Pro and iPad Air Models in May

Thursday March 28, 2024 11:07 am PDT by
Apple will introduce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in early May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman previously suggested the new iPads would come out in March, and then April, but the timeline has been pushed back once again. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple is working on updates to both the iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro models will...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

Apple Releases Revised Versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 With Updated Build Number

Wednesday March 27, 2024 5:59 am PDT by
Apple on late Tuesday released revised versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 with an updated build number of 21E237, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The updates previously had a build number of 21E236. The revised updates are available for all iPhone and iPad models that are compatible with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, but they can only be installed via the Finder app on macOS...
applephilschiller

Apple's Phil Schiller Works 80 Hours a Week Overseeing App Store

Wednesday March 27, 2024 2:03 pm PDT by
With the App Store and app ecosystem undergoing major changes in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal today shared a profile on App Store chief Phil Schiller, who is responsible for the App Store. Though Schiller transitioned from marketing chief to "Apple Fellow" in 2020 to take a step back from Apple and spend more time on personal projects and friends, he is reportedly working...