Apple partner Foxconn makes $27 billion offer for Toshiba’s storage business

Apple manufacturer Foxconn is said to have made a large bid for Toshiba’s NAND storage unit. According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, Foxconn this week offered up $27 billion for the business, a bid considerably higher than had previously been offered by companies such as Broadcom.

Last week, it was reported that Apple was among companies involved in a “bidding war” for Toshiba’s storage business, but it now seems as if reports confused Foxconn’s efforts as Apple’s. Nevertheless, Foxconn acquiring the business would be beneficial for Apple, as well.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would like to see a Japanese company or a joint U.S.-Japan conglomerate purchase the business, but Foxconn’s offer would be hard to resist if it’s the most financially enticing.

As for the value of Toshiba’s NAND business, today’s report states:

Analysts have estimated the business’s fair value at between ¥1.5 trillion and ¥2 trillion. One person familiar with the matter said the next-highest bidder after Foxconn offered about ¥2 trillion when initial bids for the business were accepted in late March.

In the past, Toshiba has stated that the two biggest factors in finding a buyer for its NAND business are the ability to close the deal quickly and the amount of the offer. It has also been reported that TSMC is interested in the business.

As we’ve noted in the past, Foxconn acquiring Toshiba’s NAND unit would give the company a leg up on Samsung, which currently is one of the more dominant players in the NAND market. The move would allow Apple to further reduce its reliance on other companies and bring some of its NAND flash needs in-house.

Foxconn’s interest in Toshiba’s NAND business comes following its separate acquisition of Sharp for some $3.5 billion. Owning both Sharp’s screen business and Toshiba’s NAND business would give Foxconn a strong position for future negations with Apple, especially as it struggles to combat slowing hardware sales all around.

At this point, we’ll have to wait for an official announcement from Foxconn and/0r Toshiba, but it seems as if we’re slowly but surely approaching a final deal for Toshiba’s valuable NAND storage business.