This article is more than 1 year old

Toshiba decides not to pick over Elpida's corpse

Firm fails to get a partner to bid for bankrupt firm

Toshiba is reportedly no longer in the running to pick over the bones of bankrupt chipmaker Elpida Memory after it couldn't put together a joint bid with other firms.

Sources close to the talks let Reuters know that Toshiba wouldn't be taking part in the second round of bidding on Friday this week after talks stalled with potential partners including South Korea's SK Hynix.

Elpida was once the world's No 3 maker of DRAM chips, but the shift in profitability from DRAM to NAND chips hit the Japanese firm hard and it filed for bankruptcy protection in February.

Although the memory company is no longer profitable, there are still juicy bits of chipmaking expertise and assets for potential suitors to sink their teeth into.

However, the market had not responded well to Toshiba's courtship, as it's now exclusively focused on NAND chips after selling its last DRAM facilities to Micron 10 years ago.

Since whispers started that Toshiba would bid on Elpida, its shares slid by 12 per cent. The stocks recovered 3 per cent in Tokyo today on the rumours that it was withdrawing from the race.

With Toshiba out of the running, SK Hynix may go it alone in a bid for Elpida's corpse, which US firm Micron Technology is also said to be looking into.

Toshiba had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like