A group including Western Digital is seeking around ¥50B (about US$464 million) from Apple to help finance a bid for Toshiba’s memory chip unit, the Kyodo news agency reports.
Sources said earlier in the week that the U.S. firm offered to step back from the consortium’s financing in return for a stronger position in their joint venture, and was hoping to get Apple to pitch in for funding. However, it’s uncertain whether other parties in the consortium would pay more to cover for the 15 billion yen that Western Digital had previously planned to pay as part of the bid, according to Kyodo.
Toshiba is spinning-off its core memory chip business and has been seeking outside investors in it. Apple is apparently interested as the move would allow it to lock in memory technology for its iPhone and other products.
