Business newspaper: Broadcom offers 17 billion euros for nand production Toshiba
According to the Japanese business newspaper Nikkei, chip manufacturer Broadcom, together with an investment company, has made an offer of about $ 18 billion, converted 17 billion euros, for Toshiba’s nand memory division.
The amount offered, according to the business newspaper, would be in line with what Toshiba expects to be able to get for its nand production division. In total, there are said to be about ten parties interested in Toshiba’s division, including Western Digital, Micron and SK Hynix.
Toshiba prefers to sell its division to an American company. Toshiba memory chips are used in Japan in SSDs that contain secret information. This data is secured with encryption and if the technology behind it gets into the hands of a foreign company, Japan fears that military or diplomatic secrets are at stake. The country has good ties with America and therefore a sale to an American company would be more easily approved by regulatory authorities.
After Samsung, Toshiba is currently the world’s largest nand memory manufacturer. The company plans to spin off the division by selling a majority stake. That new company will be called Toshiba Memory. Toshiba needs the money to offset major financial setbacks. The company has filed for bankruptcy for its nuclear branch in the US.
On Thursday, Toshiba’s shareholders approved the plan for the sale. According to Nikkei, Toshiba will start negotiations in April and wants to finalize a deal before the end of June.
Image: Nikkei