For SK Hynix, the deal will make its storage solutions more competitive. The company also expects that the transaction will enable it to grow the memory ecosystem.
South Korean electronics company SK Hynix has announced today it will acquire the Intel NAND memory and storage business. The sum of the deal will total $9 billion. Per Intel’s statement, they will use the money to focus on artificial intelligence, 5G, and edge computing.
Intel CEO Bob Swan said:
“I am proud of the NAND memory business we have built and believe this combination with SK hynix will grow the memory ecosystem for the benefit of customers, partners and employees.”
“For Intel, this transaction will allow us to further prioritize our investments in differentiated technology where we can play a bigger role in the success of our customers and deliver attractive returns to our stockholders,” added he.
SK Hynix and Intel Nand still have to wait for governmental approvals. They hope to get permission by the end of 2021. If approved, the transaction will come in two payments. The first stage will take place in late 2021. Then, SK Hynix will issue an initial $7 billion payment and get Intel’s NAND SSD-associated IP, SSD business, employees, as well as Dalian facility. The second $2 billion payment will be made in March 2025. As a result, SK Hynix will get the remaining assets, including NAND manufacturing IP, R&D employees, and the remaining Dalian workforce.
For SK Hynix, the deal will make its storage solutions more competitive. The company also expects that the transaction will enable it to grow the memory ecosystem to the benefit of customers, employees and shareholders.
SK Hynix CEO Seok-Hee Lee commented:
“By taking each other`s strengths and technologies, SK hynix will proactively respond to various needs from customers and optimize our business structure, expanding our innovative portfolio in the NAND flash market segment, which will be comparable with what we achieved in DRAM.”
About SK Hynix
SK Hynix positions itself as the world’s top tier semiconductor supplier. It is the second-largest memory chipmaker as well as the world’s 3rd-largest semiconductor company. Its product range includes Dynamic Random Access Memory chips (“DRAM”), flash memory chips (“NAND flash”) and CMOS Image Sensors (“CIS”). Founded back in 1983, SK Hynix has four production sites in Korea and China, four R&D centers as well as ten sales offices across the world.
In May 2020, SK Hynix became the first Korean semiconductor company to share its sensitive technical data with a research institute (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) in real-time through the cloud to further enhance its R&D process.
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