蘋果,亞馬遜支持富士康競購東芝閃存業務

Foxconn founder Terry Gou has said that he has won the financial backing of Apple and Amazon in its $20bn-plus bid for Toshiba’s flash memory business, as the Taiwanese group aims to counter Japanese government opposition to the deal.

富士康(Foxconn)創始人郭臺銘(Terry Gou)表示，在以逾200億美元出價收購東芝(Toshiba)閃存業務的交易中，他已經贏得了蘋果(Apple)和亞馬遜(Amazon)的財務支持。這家臺資集團正設法化解日本政府對這筆交易的反對。

In an interview with the Nikkei business daily on Sunday, Mr Gou said that the two US tech groups are joining hands with Foxconn, which is listed as Hon Hai Precision Industry. Toshiba is looking to clinch a deal on the sale of its chip division by the end of this month as the Japanese industrial group grapples with huge losses arising from its US nuclear business.

郭臺銘在週日接受《日經產業新聞》(Nikkei Business Daily)採訪時表示，這兩家美國科技集團正在同富士康攜手合作，後者在臺灣上市的正式名稱爲鴻海精密(Hon Hai Precision Industry)。東芝希望在本月末之前敲定出售其芯片部門的交易，這家日本工業集團正艱難應對其美國核業務帶來的鉅額虧損。

“Of course Apple and Amazon are offering money together, but I cannot comment on how much funds each company is putting on the table,” Mr Gou told the Nikkei.

郭臺銘對《日經產業新聞》說：“當然，蘋果和亞馬遜都提出願意出資，但我不能透露每家公司具體提議拿出多少資金。”

In a separate statement, Foxconn said it had submitted a bid for Toshiba’s chip business with “a number of strategic partners”, but the company declined to provide further details. Amazon declined to comment and Apple was not immediately available for comment.

在另一份聲明中，富士康稱，已經與“多個戰略合作伙伴”一起向東芝芯片業務提出收購要約，但拒絕提供更多細節。亞馬遜拒絕置評，記者一時聯繫不上蘋果公司請其置評。

People involved in the sales process said that Foxconn, which also acquired Japan’s Sharp last year, has been studying a joint bid with Apple, potentially using a $93bn investment fund that was recently launched by SoftBank, the Japanese technology group.

參與此次收購的人士表示，去年已收購日本夏普(Sharp)的富士康，一直在與蘋果研究聯合競標，有可能利用一隻由日本科技集團軟銀(SoftBank)不久前成立的930億美元投資基金。

Analysts say demand for NAND flash memory chips, used for long-term data storage for smartphones and other devices, is expected to increase on the back of a boon in data centres for technology companies such as Amazon, Google and Apple in the age of artificial intelligence and internet of things.

分析人士表示，對智能手機及其他設備長期數據存儲所用的NAND閃存芯片的需求預計將會增加，得益於亞馬遜、谷歌(Google)、蘋果等科技公司在人工智能和物聯網時代紛紛建立數據中心。

The Taiwanese group has earlier indicated that it would be willing to pay up to ￥3tn ($27bn) for the NAND memory chip business, making it the lead contender in terms of offer price.

這家臺灣集團早些時候曾表示，願意支付高達3萬億日元（合270億美元）收購東芝NAND閃存芯片業務，使其成爲出價方面的領先競爭者。

But the deal has become politically fraught and Toshiba may not secure the highest possible price amid Tokyo’s concerns about the company’s flash memory technology falling into rival Asian hands. Government officials have privately expressed concerns about Foxconn’s bid, in particular due to its close ties with China.

但由於東京方面擔心東芝的閃存技術落入亞洲競爭者手中，這一交易在政治上變得問題重重，東芝可能無法確保以最高可能的價碼出售。日本政府官員私下表達了對富士康競標的擔憂，尤其是鑑於該集團與中國的密切關係。

While Foxconn’s tie-up with the Silicon Valley groups may help to ease some political concerns, analysts say Mr Gou will still face an uphill battle to convince Japanese government officials who have worked the behind the scenes to promote a Japan-US consortium.

雖然富士康與硅谷兩大科技集團的聯合可能有助於緩解部分政治擔憂，但分析人士表示，要說服那些在幕後致力於推動由一個日美財團完成收購的日本政府官員，郭臺銘仍面臨一場艱難的鬥爭。

These officials envision putting Toshiba’s chip business under the control of the state-backed Innovation Network Corporation of Japan fund, which is weighing a joint bid either with US private equity fund KKR or US chipmaker Western Digital, according to people involved in the talks.

參與談判的知情人士表示，這些官員希望將東芝的芯片業務置於日本政府支持的投資基金“產業革新機構”(Innovation Network Corporation of Japan)的控制之下，後者正考慮與美國私人股本基金KKR或是美國芯片製造商西部數據(Western Digital)進行聯合競標。

Other contenders include US private equity firm Bain Capital, which is partnering with South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix, and US chipmaker Broadcom, which has been working with private equity firm Silver Lake.

其他競標方包括攜手韓國芯片製造商SK海力士(SK Hynix)的美國私人股本公司貝恩資本(Bain Capital)、以及與私人股本公司銀湖資本(Silver Lake)合作的美國芯片製造商博通(Broadcom)。