TSMC Drops Out of Race to Acquire Toshiba Flash Unit, Foxconn Highest Bidder

[MacRumors]

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has withdrawn its offer for Toshiba's highly sought-after NAND flash memory business, leaving major Apple supplier Hon Hai in the driving seat to acquire the unit.

Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn, has offered up the highest bid so far, with almost 3 trillion Japanese yen ($30 billion) said to be on the table, according to Japanese paper Asahi Shimbun on Friday. Shares in Toshiba jumped 7 percent on the news.

Toshiba is said to have narrowed down the number of bidders for its semiconductor business, which it is seeking to sell in order to raise at least $9 billion to cover U.S. nuclear unit charges that threaten the conglomerate's future.

Out of the initial 10 interested parties one of which was reportedly Apple, the smaller group of bidders includes Western Digital, Korea's SK Hynix, U.S. investment fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, and a combined partnership bid from Silver Lake Management and U.S. chipmaker Broadcomm. Media reports made no mention of whether Apple made the cut, making the prospect seem unlikely.

Japan's government could oppose a sale to Taiwan-based Foxconn because of the strategic value of Toshiba's technology to the national interest, according to sources who spoke to Bloomberg. Toshiba reportedly wants to encourage Japanese companies to participate in the bidding process, since none are in the current group.

The second round of the bidding war is expected to be held before the end of May, with the winner is expected to be announced in June before Toshiba's next shareholder meeting.

Article Link: TSMC Drops Out of Race to Acquire Toshiba Flash Unit, Foxconn Highest Bidder

 

[Kajje]

Thithy billions of hard cash dollares right there in a (big) bag on the table. And people still complain Apple is squeezing out those poor people assembling iPhones.

 

[M.PaulCezanne]

Japan's government could oppose a sale to Taiwan-based Foxconn because of the strategic value of Toshiba's technology to the national interest, according to sources who spoke to Bloomberg. Toshiba reportedly wants to encourage Japanese companies to participate in the bidding process, since none are in the current group.

Now that's good international trade policy!

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Now that's good international trade policy!

They should block Foxconn as they would most likely hand technology over to communist china, but others may do the same. WD or Apple should have this.

 

[Sasparilla]

Wow, this is heavy duty manufacturing. Apple better be careful about being on the hook with these guys too much - and keep their own independent capabilities around.

Dell made all their own stuff originally, then started having a little subcontractor ASUS do more and more of their stuff (making circuit boards, then motherboards, some assembly...). It all made sense from a MBA perspective, saving money all along the way, but in the end DELL just became a money losing brand name shell that doesn't actually make anything - and ASUS is a respected PC manufacturer who makes everything. Foxconn isn't going to make its own Macs, but Apple needs to be careful about relying on them too much.

 

[0924487]

They should block Foxconn as they would most likely hand technology over to communist china, but others may do the same. WD or Apple should have this.

You are so brainwashed by American media beyond repair. If you free yourself from North America, you will realise how ridiculous your words sound. In the age of AI and IoT, with 45 years, yourself will be refurbished by China too. Save your hypocrisy until then. Oh, yeah, if you can't live that long, cryonics is still the way to go.
[doublepost=1491571300][/doublepost]

Thithy billions of hard cash dollares right there in a (big) bag on the table. And people still complain Apple is squeezing out those poor people assembling iPhones.

Foxconn is backed by the Chinese government's targeted technology industry development subsidies, aka, my tax money. Foxconn is not just providing the labour, it is where manufacturing engineering takes place. Apple only designs the product. Make something on the blueprint a reality on a grand scale is not an easy task that some high school cool kids can accomplish, and Foxconn only takes 1.8% of the revenue share. That is the cost of winning orders. That is the cost of made in China. That is the social cost of rapid national development, so China can chase back the lost time. Would you please make my life easier by not saying annoying things after all that? We are doing everything to rebuild China, and at a great sacrifice to us, why is it still not good enough for you?

 

[Vanilla35]

They should block Foxconn as they would most likely hand technology over to communist china, but others may do the same. WD or Apple should have this.

Money speaks louder than morality. In business, anyway

 

[deconstruct60]

Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn, has offered up the highest bid so far, with almost 3 trillion Japanese yen ($30 billion) said to be on the table, ....

Did Foxconn even finish digesting and fixing Sharp?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...deal-ending-sharp-s-105-years-of-independence

The company has $64B in total cash. http://finance.yahoo.com/quote/2354.TW/key-statistics?p=2354.TW

$30B would cut that almost in half. They wouldn't be broke, but are they going to have money to move it forward. But probably better than the high leverage buyout folks Silverlake and KKR. Pretty sure they'd be milking rather than in investing long term manufacturing.

 

[Kajje]

You are so brainwashed by American media beyond repair. If you free yourself from North America, you will realise how ridiculous your words sound. In the age of AI and IoT, with 45 years, yourself will be refurbished by China too. Save your hypocrisy until then. Oh, yeah, if you can't live that long, cryonics is still the way to go.
[doublepost=1491571300][/doublepost]

Foxconn is backed by the Chinese government's targeted technology industry development subsidies, aka, my tax money. Foxconn is not just providing the labour, it is where manufacturing engineering takes place. Apple only designs the product. Make something on the blueprint a reality on a grand scale is not an easy task that some high school cool kids can accomplish, and Foxconn only takes 1.8% of the revenue share. That is the cost of winning orders. That is the cost of made in China. That is the social cost of rapid national development, so China can chase back the lost time. Would you please make my life easier by not saying annoying things after all that? We are doing everything to rebuild China, and at a great sacrifice to us, why is it still not good enough for you?

I had no intent to sound the way you think I was. Read my statement again and emphasize on the word 'Apple'. Companies having billions piled up - Apple, Foxconn and anybody else - shouldn't squeeze out their employees.

I understand reading my statement without empasizing on the word 'Apple' indeed sounds different. My apologies for that. 真遗憾

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Apple please buy this so we can quit paying 19 times the market price for it in your products.

 

[Hustler1337]

Apple please buy this so we can quit paying 19 times the market price for it in your products.

Pfffffft, I wouldn't hold my breath there buddy.

 

[Shirasaki]

Given that Japan is such a pure country and their culture is more convoluted than others, no wonder why government encourage local companies joining the bidding.

 

[5105973]

What is a US Nuclear unit charge? Why do they owe us so much money on that? Never heard of this before. ???

 

[deconstruct60]

What is a US Nuclear unit charge? Why do they owe us so much money on that? Never heard of this before. ???

There are other longer, deeper dives into the issue but this is a pretty good "summary"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-17/how-toshiba-lost-6-billion

In even shorter summary. Back when oil prices were skyrocketing and nuclear looked promising again Toshiba paid way too much for Westinghouse which had a new "easier to build" Nuclear power plant design. And then Fukushima, Japan accident happened and lots of anti-Nuclear forces heaped trouble on the new design. They doubled down on a dubious construction company that didn't make it faster to build and brought even more 'drama' to the story. There are a couple of multibillion plant construction projects that are collapsing which will cause some billion $ lawsuits.

This whole saga is exactly illustrative of why it is important to have enough money to 'fix' some problems after you buy something (that you haven't blown all of your cash just to buy it. ). And how important it is to do homework before buy. "Can we effectively run this?" is about as important as "Can we buy this?".

Apple running a semiconductor plant? That is more than a little dubious. No track record on that at all.

 

[5105973]

There are other longer, deeper dives into the issue but this is a pretty good "summary"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-17/how-toshiba-lost-6-billion

In even shorter summary. Back when oil prices were skyrocketing and nuclear looked promising again Toshiba paid way too much for Westinghouse which had a new "easier to build" Nuclear power plant design. And then Fukushima, Japan accident happened and lots of anti-Nuclear forces heaped trouble on the new design. They doubled down on a dubious construction company that didn't make it faster to build and brought even more 'drama' to the story. There are a couple of multibillion plant construction projects that are collapsing which will cause some billion $ lawsuits.

This whole saga is exactly illustrative of why it is important to have enough money to 'fix' some problems after you buy something (that you haven't blown all of your cash just to buy it. ). And how important it is to do homework before buy. "Can we effectively run this?" is about as important as "Can we buy this?".

Apple running a semiconductor plant? That is more than a little dubious. No track record on that at all.

Thank you for taking the time to post an informative response. I appreciate it.