“Samsung Electronics Co Ltd., the world’s top maker of memory chips, said it may buy flash memory maker SanDisk, which is valued at $3.2 billion, in a deal that could reshape a struggling industry,” Marie-France Han and Nathan Layne report for Reuters.
“An acquisition of SanDisk would expand Samsung’s market share at a time when prices for flash memory, used in such products as digital cameras, cell phones and music players, are falling sharply. The deal would also reduce Samsung’s licensing costs by assuming control of SanDisk’s popular technology,” Han and Layne report.
“Analysts said an acquisition could shift the balance of power in the flash memory industry away from Japan’s Toshiba, which trails Samsung in the flash market but plans to nearly double its chip production capacity in partnership with SanDisk,” Han and Layne report. “‘Samsung buying SanDisk would mean big damage for Toshiba,’ said Yoshihisa Toyosaki, head of IT research firm J-Star Inc.”
Full article here.
[Attribution: MacNN. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
That would be a shame. SanDisk generally does more good than harm in the world.
Apple inc. Please, Please buy up SandDisk if they really are willing to sell up, or buy a portion of it in order to safeguard its future.
SanDisk is the closest rival to the iPod left and it would be a shame to see parallel development stifled.
My Samsung phone (a freebie with contract) was the best cheap cell phone I’ve ever had…comparing to Nokia, Sony Ericcson…easy to use, simple & helpful menus. I didn’t ap[reciate this fact until I started using other phones. Yuck.
Great. Another American company boxed up and shipped to Asia.
I love SanDisk. Its a good company. I hope they stay independent.
@R2
Anheuser-Busch went to Europe, so don’t forget them, either.
Samsung, Toshiba and SanDisk are presumably still in the middle of a Justice Department investigation (begun last September) of possible price-fixing in the NAND flash market. Smell a rat?
@R2
Great. Another American company boxed up and shipped to Asia.
Someone correct me if i am wrong, but I believe that Sandisk was a Taiwanese outfit.
It would appear to be a terrible time to “sell,” assuming that there is long term viability in the flash memory market. But you can’t blame foreign investors/companies for attempting to acquire assets at a discount during a U.S. economic downturn plus a weak dollar.
If it bothers you, then consider that foreign investors have also taken large losses after purchasing U.S. assets (skyscrapers, etc.) at inflated prices.
@qka
Someone correct me if i am wrong, but I believe that Sandisk was a Taiwanese outfit.
Uhmmm, no – it’s Milpitas, CA.
http://www.sandisk.com/Corporate/About/
Sandisk had a poor track record supporting Macs.
Remember Sandisk introduced a form of spyware on its USB Cruzer sticks, called U3, which resided on a CD-like partition, which couldn’t be deleted without using Windows. (U3 is software that allows you to create your personal environment, when the stick is inserted into a PC you don’t own, including USB stick resident apps. Obviously, utterly useless, and in fact NOT wanted on the more secure MacOSX platform.)
Therefore, Mac users, of all people, should be offered the utility to get rid of the annoying U3 software and CD partition, rather than being ignored!
“Anheuser-Busch went to Europe, so don’t forget them, either.”
so who could care if Anheuser-Busch is owned by “non-American” company?