Toshiba and Western Digital have settled their dispute over the acquisition of Toshiba’s nand memory division. Western Digital is suspending all legal proceedings against Toshiba. The existing collaboration in the joint venture of both companies will be extended until the end of 2029.
As part of the deal between the two companies, Western Digital will participate with Toshiba Memory in a future investment round in Fab 6, a brand new memory factory under construction in Yokkaichi, Japan. This factory is fully used for the mass production of bics memory, or 3d-nand with 64 layers. Western Digital will also participate in a new factory under construction in Iwate, Japan. Last week, two sources reported that WD and Toshiba had buried the hatchet.
In late October, Toshiba shareholders approved the sale of the nand memory division to a consortium led by investor Bain Capital. Sk Hynix, Apple and Dell are also part of the consortium. So is the Innovation Network Corp of Japan, a public-private partnership between the Japanese government and major technology companies. As a result of these Japanese investors, more than fifty percent of the shares remain in the hands of Japanese companies. This was an important wish of the Japanese government. With this acquisition, WD missed the mark.
Toshiba worked with SanDisk in a joint venture until Western Digital acquired SanDisk last year. WD was also interested in acquiring the memory division and felt that the current sale to the consortium would not serve its interests in the joint venture. Partly because of this, WD went to an arbitration committee earlier to prevent Toshiba from selling the chip division. This legal battle is now coming to an end.
Toshiba spun off its nand memory production on April 1 into a separate company called Toshiba Memory, and has been looking to sell this part for some time, as it is in financial trouble after a series of setbacks at Toshiba’s US nuclear unit Westinghouse. After Samsung, Toshiba is currently the world’s largest manufacturer of nand memory.