Apple supplier Toshiba gets China's approval to execute $14B memory chip unit sale

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in iPhone
Toshiba has received approval from the Chinese government to sell a majority stake of its chip unit, in a move that could affect dealings for the NAND flash memory used in iPhones and other Apple devices.

Some 128-gigabyte Toshiba NAND chips.
Some 128-gigabyte Toshiba NAND chips.


With China's vetting, Toshiba said it has received "all required antitrust approvals," the New York Times reported on Thursday. Taking control of the chip unit is a consortium led by a U.S. investment firm, Bain Capital.

A sale agreement was actually reached in September, but Toshiba has been waiting for months for get China's approval. The Chinese government was allegedly concerned that one partner in the Bain consortium, South Korea's SK Hynix, might end up with a significant stake and narrow competition in the memory market.

Toshiba is hoping to use the influx of money -- about $14 billion -- to recover from the bankruptcy of its U.S. nuclear division, Westinghouse. The company was courted by a number of potential buyers, among them a consortium including Western Digital and Apple assembly partner Foxconn.

Due to existing holdings and agreements, Western Digital tried to halt any sale without its approval, only reaching a settlement with Toshiba in December.

Apple has been reported as being part of the Bain consortium, along with parties like PC maker Dell. At one point Apple was said to be ready to spend as much as $3 billion.

Toshiba didn't confirm Apple's involvement on Thursday. Participation might make sense though, since the former is one of the world's biggest memory suppliers, and an Apple investment could ensure a constant flow of memory and prevent production bottlenecks.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Somewhere Mitt is laughing...

    iu.gif 591.7K
  • Reply 2 of 8
    quinneyquinney Posts: 2,528member
    Somewhere Mitt is laughing...

    what is that other guy doing?
  • Reply 3 of 8
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    quinney said:
    Somewhere Mitt is laughing...

    what is that other guy doing?
    My guess is a heart attack.
  • Reply 4 of 8
    nunzynunzy Posts: 662member
    Apple could afford 14 billion and not even notice it. Petty cash. Rounding error.
  • Reply 5 of 8
    larryjwlarryjw Posts: 1,031member
    As a vulture capital company, Bain was responsible for driving Toys R Us into liquidation, having saddled that company with $6.5B in debt.

    With Apple as partner, perhaps Toshiba might survive. 
  • Reply 6 of 8
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    larryjw said:
    As a vulture capital company, Bain was responsible for driving Toys R Us into liquidation, having saddled that company with $6.5B in debt.

    With Apple as partner, perhaps Toshiba might survive. 
    Apple could only be an involved thru Bain, and would have no voting rights anyway if I remember the way the deal was structured. 
  • Reply 7 of 8
    What is rarely mentioned is that Toshiba is having to sell a highly profitable business to cover the mess from the nuclear business. Buying Westinghouse Nuclear wasa collossal mistake.

    Nuclear Power remains the most expensive and dangerous way to boil water ever tried at scale by humans.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    quinney said:
    Somewhere Mitt is laughing...

    what is that other guy doing?
    My guess is a heart attack.
    My guess is that other guy gave him a head... /s
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