Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday declined to comment on a report that the two Taiwanese high-tech giants will jointly bid for the memorychip assets of Japan’s Toshiba Corp.
Hon Hai and TSMC, which are the largest contract electronics maker and the largest contract chip maker in the world respectively, said they do not respond to market speculations.
The speculations arose after the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported that Hon Hai and TSMC had formed an alliance to procure Toshiba’s memorychip assets.
The report said that the two companies are expected to submit a bid by March 29.
The report also cited unnamed sources close to the deal as saying that Hon Hai and TSMC have signed a nondisclosure agreement on the bid, the proceeds from which the Japanese firm plans to use to offset the effects of losses caused by its nuclear energy business in the US market.
A Toshiba board meeting last month approved a proposal to spin off its semiconductor operations, which operate under the name Toshiba Memory.
The plan to sell a stake in Toshiba Memory has attracted keen interest from potential suitors in Taiwan, the US and South Korea, the report said.
Possible buyers in Taiwan include Hon Hai and TSMC, the Liberty Times report added.
Last week, Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) said that his company is keen to acquire a stake in Toshiba Memory and that the firm would be able to work with Toshiba to grow its memory operations.
Gou said he would invite Toshiba Memory, which specializes in NAND flash chip production, to establish a production base in China.
Separately, TSMC chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀) told reporters that his company was closely watching the terms attached to the deal.
It had previously been reported that Toshiba would sell a 19.9 percent stake, but more recent Japanese media reports have suggested Toshiba could sell Toshiba Memory outright.
The Korea Herald at the weekend said South Korea-based DRAM maker SK Hynix Inc is likely to work with Hon Hai on the Toshiba Memory bid, as Hynix requires more cash assets to make the acquisition.
The Korea Herald estimated that the disposal of 100 percent of Toshiba Memory could cost about US$8.7 billion, but SK Hynix only has about US$3.4 billion in cash assets, so it could seek the assistance of Hon Hai.
South Korean media said Hon Hai has close business ties with SK Group, which owns SK Hynix, with roughly a 3.5 percent stake in the conglomerate.
Toshiba is the second-largest NAND flash memorychip supplier in the world, trailing only South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co.
NAND flash is used for storage functions and can be installed in smartphones.
Hon Hai, which acquired a 66 percent stake in Japan’s Sharp Corp for US$3.5 billion in August last year, is believed to want to expand beyond contract manufacturing into the semiconductor business.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
RSS