“Apple is reportedly going to use part of its enormous pile of cash to buy an Israeli fabless semiconductor company that specializes in flash storage solutions,” Robin Wauters reports for TechCrunch. “Calcalist reports – in Hebrew – that the world’s most valuable company is in talks to buy Herzliya Pituach, Israel-based Anobit for $400 million to $500 million.”
“If the report checks out, this would mark Apple’s first acquisition in Israel (and the first with Tim Cook at the helm as CEO), and also a rare occasion because the consumer electronics giant doesn’t usually buy non-software companies,” Wauters reports. “The only hardware companies Apple is known to have acquired in the past two decades were Steve Jobs-founded NeXT, Raycer Graphics, Intrinsity and P.A. Semi.”
Wauters reports, “According to Calcalist reporter Assaf Gilad, Apple relies on the company’s solutions for the iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air product lines, among other devices. South Korean Hynix is said to use Anobit’s solution for a flash memory chip you can find inside the iPhone 4S. Anobit says it has 21 granted patents (and 95 in total).”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Edward Weber” for the heads up.]
This is why cash is KING!
Not to mention foreign cash. Apple has been among many 1%-ers lobbying for a suspension of tax laws affecting the movement of foreign cast into the US. Apple can use some of their foreign money for this purchase.
It makes perfect sense, if one is considering fully switching to SSD’s, to invest in their long term reliability.
EDIT:
Here’s a quote from Anobit’s technology page:
Specifically, MSP™ enables SLC (one bit-per-cell) endurance and performance with MLC (two bits-per-cell) NAND, and MLC endurance and performance with TLC (three bits-per-cell) NAND, resulting in a significant reduction in cost per-bit.
For those of you who haven’t done their homework about SSD’s, SLC’s are really nice and reliable, but lack storage space, as they only store one bit per cell. MLC’s and TLC’s store 2x or 3x more (respectively) but they are less reliable and much more short lived. However, if their MSP technology really works (it does because otherwise apple would not be trying to acquire them) then you get the PERFORMANCE and RELIABILITY of an SLC and still keep the 3 bits per cell (or 3x the storage).
Effectively, this means cheap and high performance flash storage for Apple. And it makes perfect sense to buy the company and keep SSD’s out of reach for everyone else.
Out of reach because other companies would have to charge double or triple for the same amount of storage. And the situation will be just like that of the macbook air. Everyone else has an ultra book but apple’s is CHEAPER (and still better performing) LOLOLOLOL
Now maybe there’ll be a real Apple Store in Tel Aviv or Haifa….
Good luck with that. Apple’s exclusive distributor – iDigital – is controlled by Peres’ son, and I don’t see him giving up that privileged position. A real Apple Store charging prices like those in the US (not counting VAT) would change everything.
The article states that Anobit has clients that are some of the biggest NAND manufactures in the world. I really, really hope that includes Samsung and Apple pull their license fscking up their memory business. That would be too funny.
I would do that, even just for the kick of fscking up Samsung. Cut their guts out, not just skin. Do same thing to Google, go into search business, and cut the cash cow off bastard Google.
It does include Smasung:
Calcalist said Apple is interested in Anobit’s technology to increase and enhance the memory volume and performance of its devices. The chip may as much as double the memory volume in the new iPads and MacBooks.
Among Anobit’s key clients are flash memory manufacturers such as Korean based Samsung and Hynix, Calcalist noted. Hynix recently become the main flash memory supplier for Apple’s iPhone 4S. Anobit’s chip is incorporated into Hynix’s flash drives and enhances the device’s memory.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/13/apple-in-talks-to-buy-anobit-for-400-500-million-report/
Samsung will claim to courts that this deal isn’t kosher.
Apple wouldn’t withdraw current technologies from Samsung because that would be anti-competitive. However they could deploy newer technology that is outside current contracts either within the organization or to corporate partners.
Since Apple could well consume 50% of world wide flash/SSD memory as their iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air products grows in sales.
Hopefuly, Apple will delocalize this enterprise and take it to USA… Middle East is no place to stay… and likely might be no more Israel will exist within next years…
On the other hand, it might be yet another reason for the USA to get involved in stabilizing the situation over there. While none of the countries in the region is pure lily-white, Israel is the only democratic state in the region, and many Americans (including me, and I am NOT Jewish) believe that it is in our best interest to support Israel, and to have Israel present and free.
With the actual US president, USA has got a slightly better image, around the world, than under Bush… Yet, if some republican (especially a typical extremist as actually presented) gets elected, than, hate will blast all over again and Israel will be even more exposed with a “strong american presence”!!!
Tell that to other US companies with a major presence in Israel – Intel, GE, Motorola, HP, Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, and lots more. Warren Buffet made a $4 Billion investment there a few years ago. Israel isn’t going anywhere.
This would be nice. I dont think that it would be wise to pull the license from Samsung. I think there are probably already licensing contracts in place to cover this. What I would like to see is Apple keeping the best of the technology for themselves while licensing the older tech out. This would ensure that Apple has the best for itself and also has first option. However, they still need to have a manufacturer make the chips, and Apple would need to be sure that the fab plants aren’t either slowing production or sharing information. Apple should also start their own fab operation. I bet Hynix probably shares some ties with Samsung, and therefore the technology is apt to be leaked to Samsung.
The writer seems confused… He indicates that Apple does not usually buy non-software companies…
“Apple is reportedly going to use part of its enormous pile of cash to buy an Israeli fabless semiconductor company that specializes in flash storage solutions,””
fabless means that they do the software design and someone else builds the hardware…. so its a software and design company.
Just a thought,
en
@Moo….Great Comment….funny…