Toshiba’s Chip Business: Apple to support bidder financially

TOKYO: Tech giant Apple is considering backing Hon Hai’s multi-billion dollar bid for Toshiba’s lucrative memory chip business, a report said Saturday. The US firm plans to financially support Taiwan’s Hon Hai, which has reportedly bid some 3 trillion yen ($27.6 billion) in the initial tendering round for the memory chip business, the Mainichi Shimbun said. Apple, which uses Toshiba’s memory chips for its iPhone, hopes to secure stable supplies of the key parts by supporting Hon Hai’s bid, the daily said. Hon Hai, which acquired Japanese electronics maker Sharp last year, is separately asking SoftBank to join the team, the daily said. The Japanese telecom company may help Hon Hai negotiate with local banks currently supporting Toshiba, it said. Immediate confirmation of the report was not available. Among other bidders are Google and Amazon as well as US private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners, quoting unnamed sources.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2017.

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