SK Hynix to Buy Intel's NAND Memory Chip Business

SK Hynix said Tuesday that it will buy Intel's NAND flash memory business for US$9 billion, the biggest-ever acquisition by a Korean company.

The deal changes the map of the global NAND market by catapulting SK Hynix from fifth to second behind market leader Samsung.

SK Hynix will acquire Intel's NAND flash memory production business and high-capacity SSD business as well as related patents. The deal also includes Intel's NAND plant in Dalian, China, which the world's top chipmaker spent $8 billion on over the last decade.

"Intel's NAND business achieved $2.8 billion in sales in the first half of this year and an operating profit of $600 million," an SK spokesman said. "We made the bold decision to achieve a solid leap forward."

Intel, which is also the world's biggest non-memory chipmaker, has handed over its entire memory business to SK Hynix. The global market is scaled at $428.3 billion, with non-memory chips accounting for 75 percent and memory chips for the rest.

SK Hynix already ranks second in the global DRAM market but between fourth and fifth in the NAND market, which is led by Samsung with a 33.8 percent market share, followed by Japan's Kioxia (17.3 percent).

But if SK Hynix combines its 11.4 percent market share with Intel's 11.5 percent, it will rise to No. 2 with 22.9 percent.