In the NAND flash memory market, there are six major manufacturers in the world – Samsung, Kioxia (formerly Toshiba Storage), Western Digital (formerly SanDisk), SK Hynix, Micron and Intel, but last year SK Hynix announced the acquisition of Intel’s flash memory business, the market The pattern has changed. SK Hynix acquired Intel for $9 billion. The deal covers Intel’s SSD, NAND components and wafers, as well as Intel’s flash memory factory in Dalian, China, but will not include the Optane business.
The money will be paid in two installments, with the first installment paying $7 billion to acquire the NAND SSD business (including NAND SSD-related intellectual property and employees) and the Dalian factory from Intel.
The second phase is expected to be carried out in March 2025. SK Hynix will pay the balance of US$2 billion to acquire the remaining related assets from Intel, including intellectual property rights related to the production and design of NAND flash memory wafers, R&D personnel, and employees of the Dalian factory.
9 billion US dollars is also a high cost for SK hynix, and the funds are still under pressure. Recently, there are rumors that SK hynix will sell its shares in Kioxia in order to return funds to acquire Intel’s flash memory business, but the official Denied, saying that it would not sell the shares in Kioxia.
In the $18 billion transaction of Toshiba’s sale of the flash memory chip business in 2018, SK Hynix was a heavyweight investment member, contributing 4 trillion won, or about $3.55 billion or 23.2 billion yuan.
In short, SK Hynix’s current plan is to acquire Intel while retaining its investment in Kioxia. So far, it has participated in three of the six major flash memory manufacturers in the world. After acquiring Intel’s flash memory business, it is the second largest in the world after Samsung. , more influential.
