SK Hynix will consider making a fresh bid for Toshiba’s NAND flash memory business if the latter puts more on the table, the CEO of the Korean chip giant has said.
SK Hynix CEO and vice chairman Park Sung-wook told reporters on the sidelines of a semiconductor conference in Seoul that if Toshiba puts forward a specific offer and schedule it will consider taking them.
Park declined to comment on whether acquiring the Japanese business unit will help profits or if it was willing to spend more than the 10 trillion won, or $8.8 billion, that Toshiba was aiming to raise from the sale.
Toshiba was initially aiming to sell a 19.9 percent stake of the business, with SK Hynix, Micron, and Western Digital among the companies turning in their bids due end of March.
But the Japanese company has since decided to sell more than half of the stake of the business to offset losses — around 7 trillion won ($6.15 billion) — from its overseas nuclear operations.
SK Hynix is ranked second in DRAMs, behind only Samsung Electronics.
But with 10.4 percent of NAND flash memory chips, it is behind Samsung, Toshiba, and Western Digital, which have 36.6 percent, 19.8 percent, and 17.1 percent of global market shares, respectively. If SK Hynix proceeds to buy Toshiba, it will become runner-up instantly.
NAND flash memory chips have been the main profit driver for memory makers due to a strong demand for them in smartphones and servers.
