Intel will continue to manufacture NAND wafers at SK hynix’s Dalian memory manufacturing facility and retain certain IP related to the manufacture and design of NAND flash wafers until the final closing of the transaction
Intel Corporation has completed the first closing of the sale of its NAND and SSD business, selling its SSD business (including the transfer of certain NAND SSD-associated intellectual properties (IP) and employees) and the Dalian NAND memory manufacturing facility in China to Seoul-based SK hynix. In exchange, SK hynix will pay Intel US$7 billion in consideration. The deal was announced on 19 Oct2020.
Intel intends to invest transaction proceeds to deliver leadership products and advance its long-term growth priorities. Intel will continue to manufacture NAND wafers at SK hynix’s Dalian memory manufacturing facility and retain certain IP related to the manufacture and design of NAND flash wafers until the final closing of the transaction.
The final closing is expected to occur in or after March 2025, when SK hynix will acquire from Intel the remaining NAND business assets, including certain IP related to the manufacture and design of NAND flash wafers, R&D employees and the Dalian fab workforce, for US$2 billion.
The SSD business will transition to a newly formed company, Solidigm, a subsidiary of SK hynix. Solidigm, whose name reflects a new paradigm in solid-state storage, will name Robert (Rob) B. Crooke as CEO. Crooke was previously senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group. Solidigm will have its headquarters in San Jose, California.
Intel could also possibly be the first major multinational to start a semiconductor manufacturing fab in India. Minister for IT and Electronics, Ashwini Vaishnaw, in a tweet had wrote, “Intel – Welcome to India”. The government of India has recently announced a Rs 76,000 crore policy program for boosting local manufacturing of semiconductor and display in India.
Presently, a lot of Intel chips are manufactured outside its home country the United States. The company, in March 2021, had announced that it would be investing $20 billion to set up semiconductor manufacturing in the state of Arizona.
