SK Hynix, a South Korean semiconductor supplier, has completed the first phase of purchasing Intel's NAND solid-state drive (SSD) memory chip business and its assets in Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, with the allocation of $7 billion on Thursday, the company told the Global Times, following the approval of China's top market regulator on December 22.

According to an announcement released by the company sent to the Global Times, SK Hynix is expected to pay $2 billion during the second phase in March 2025 to acquire the remaining tangible and intangible assets from Intel, including NAND flash wafer manufacturing and design-related intellectual property, R&D personnel, and employees at the Dalian plant. At that time, the acquisition will be finalized.

The company said that the newly established US subsidiary will be responsible for product development, manufacturing and sales of the acquired Intel SSD business. The name of the new company is "Solidigm," a portmanteau of solid-state and paradigm, which means the firm is committed to revolutionizing the storage industry by creating a new solid state paradigm that provides new services for customers.

"Following the business merger, SK Hynix's NAND flash memory business will jump to the global top tier," the company told the Global Times.

The Chinese antitrust bureau said that the purchase will integrate the patents and unique know-how of both parties, eliminate SK Hynix's close competitors in the global and Chinese market, reduce competition constraints faced by SK Hynix and further improve its market control.

On December 22, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) conditionally approved SK Hynix's planned purchase of Intel's NAND memory chip business, and the restrictive conditions will be effective for 5 years, after which the antitrust bureau will decide whether to remove the conditions according to SK Hynix's application and competition in the market.

One of the conditions is that the prices of SK Hynix products sold in the Chinese market shall not be higher than their average prices in the 24 months prior to the merger, provided that the transaction terms are comparable.

Global Times