Apple and Amazon are said to be providing funds to Foxconn in a bid to help the Taiwanese company purchase Toshiba’s NAND memory division, according to Foxconn chairman Terry Gou.
The news comes from an interview the chairman conducted with Nikkei Asian Review that details the move by two of the biggest tech titans.
It could see them benefit from cheaper flash memory when building future products, assuming this deal goes ahead.
Foxconn is Apple’s primary contract builder of the iPhone and Amazon’s Kindle. The report claims that Foxconn reportedly asked both companies for help in the bid, that is estimated to come in at $28 billion (approximately £21.5 billion).
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Foxconn isn’t the only company in a bidding war for the NAND memory division; there are at least five other companies bidding for NAND. Two of their rivals are reportedly Network Corp of Japan and Development Bank of Japan who are both backed by the state. The Japanese government isn’t said to be fond of the idea of foreign companies taking over Toshiba’s memory division.
The reason Toshiba’s NAND division is so prized is due to the fact it is one of the few companies in the world leading development in flash memory. Instead of building single-plane chips, the kind that have been used for years, NAND stacks chips into layers which allows more data to fit inside. It’s worth noting that Toshiba’s NAND memory division is responsible for inventing flash storage.
Foxconn is no stranger to huge bids, with the company recently purchasing Sharp for $3.5 billion. However Foxconn is going to have to fight off resistance from other companies as well as the Japanese government if it’s going to secure a deal with Toshiba’s NAND division.
Do you think backing from Apple and Amazon will help Foxconn take this deal? Let us know in the comments.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.