[Courtesy of SK hynix]
South Korean chipmaker SK hynix said Tuesday it has submitted a preliminary bid to acquire a stake in Japanese rival Toshiba's memory chip business, describing its proposal as non-binding.
Toshiba, the world's second-largest maker of NAND flash memory chips used in smartphones and mobile devices, plans to sell a 20 percent stake in its memory division due to snowballing losses in its US nuclear power business.
SK hynix said it had sent a "non-binding" proposal last Friday. "Our participation in the final bidding has not been decided," the company said in a stock market notice.
Toshiba is currently mass-producing 48-layer 3D NAND and plans to mass produce 64-layer 3D NAND of this year. Samsung dominates the global NAND flash market with a 36.6 percent share while SK hynix stood fifth after Samsung, Toshiba, Western Digital and Micron Technology.
SK hynix has promised to strengthen its NAND chip business. Last month, an affiliate of SK Group agreed to buy a controlling stake in silicon wafer producer LG Siltron Inc.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
