Toshiba decided to sell its memory chip unit to a U.S.-led alliance
Taiwan News
Date: 2017/09/26
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Did Toshiba buckle due to Japanese government pressure? (By Associated Press)

A woman walks past the Logo of Toshiba in Kawasaki near Tokyo, Friday, Jan. 27, 2017. Toshiba Corp. says it will split its lucrative flash memory business to make up for losses from its troubled U.S. nuclear business and is looking for a third-party capital injection. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The failure of Taiwanese tycoon Terry Gou’s (郭台銘) Foxconn Technology Group to buy Toshiba’s memory chip unit recently can be explained by the Japanese government’s fear of China, reports said Tuesday.
The board at Toshiba announced last September 20 it was planning to sell the chip division for US$18 billion to a group led by Bain Capital of the United States and including South Korean semiconductor maker SK Hynix, brushing aside bids from Western Digital of the U.S. and from Foxconn.
Even though Gou came up with a good offer and received positive comments in the media after last year’s takeover of another ailing Japanese brand, Sharp Corporation, the government in Tokyo was worried that if he won the Toshiba bid, it would result in the transfer of vital technology from Japan to China, Mirror Media wrote in Taiwan.
[FULL STORY]