The feud between Toshiba Corp and its US joint-venture partner Western Digital over a planned sale of Toshiba’s lucrative flash-memory unit is being aired at a Tokyo court.
At the first hearing of the case yesterday, Toshiba’s lawyers demanded ￥120 billion (US$1.1 billion) in damages from Western Digital for allegedly interfering with its business and hurting its credibility as a company.
Western Digital’s lawyers urged the court to throw Toshiba’s case out, saying it has filed a competing claim with an arbitration court in San Francisco, where the same questions are being addressed.
The Tokyo District Court’s ruling could determine whether or not the sale, needed to keep financially strapped Toshiba afloat, can proceed.
Toshiba has been hobbled by losses at the US nuclear operations of its subsidiary Westinghouse Electric Co, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.
Toshiba reached a deal, estimated at ￥2 trillion, in September with an international consortium headed by Bain Capital investment fund to sell the memory chip joint venture. It is hoping to close the deal by the end of March.
Western Digital opposes the sale.
In a somber courtroom, Yukio Nagasawa, one of six attorneys present who were representing Toshiba, questioned Western Digital’s actions. He said the company had never joined the bid for the memory business, but instead tried to persuade banks not to give Toshiba financing and pressured potential bidders not to bid.
“There is no basis to say approval from Western Digital is needed to sell the shares,” he told the court.
Nagasawa contended that the case should be heard in a Japanese court.
He also said there was a risk Western Digital might disclose technological secrets, since it was so intent on blocking the sale.
Western Digital lawyer Takashi Sugawara argued the company’s actions made sense and said the company had good reasons to oppose the sale.
The sale should be put on hold pending an arbitration ruling in San Francisco, he said.
Sugawara also said Western Digital was concerned over South Korean rival chipmaker Hynix’s involvement in the Bain consortium.
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
INFLATION CONSIDERATION: The BOJ governor said that it would ‘keep making appropriate decisions’ and would adjust depending on the economy and prices The Bank of Japan (BOJ) yesterday raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest in 30 years and said more increases are in the pipeline if conditions allow, in a sign of growing conviction that it can attain the stable inflation target it has pursued for more than a decade. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s policy board increased the rate by 0.2 percentage points to 0.75 percent, in a unanimous decision, the bank said in a statement. The central bank cited the rising likelihood of its economic outlook being realized. The rate change was expected by all 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The
RSS