Seoul (South Korea) – Samsung is reportedly aiming to increase its share of the global flash business by acquiring Sandisk, the world’s largest flash memory card vendor. Following an article published by a Korean website, Sandisk surged by about 28%, giving Sandisk a market capitalization of about $3.85 billion.

The flash memory market has been rattled with deteriorating sales for some time and market research firms such as iSuppli have little hope that this situation will be changing in the near future. But Samsung is apparently counting on this market segment and it appears that the company, which rakes in more than 42% of global NAND flash sales, will be expanding its role with a consumer brand – Sandisk.        

The two companies already have a close relationship with each other, as Samsung is the main chip supplier for Sandisk. However, a consumer brand would allow Samsung to become much more visible and competitive in retail as flash memory is growing into an increasingly important mass storage technology.

Samsung declined to immediately comment on the report, but told TG Daily that the company is “looking into” providing a statement later today.

Sandisk already reacted by issuing a brief release, saying that "Sandisk periodically has conversations with multiple parties, including Samsung, regarding a variety of potential business opportunities. We evaluate all of these opportunities, but maintain a policy of not commenting on market rumors or speculation." We leave it up to you to decide what this standard phrase means in this case.

Apparently, J. P. Morgan has been hired as an advisor for the deal and Samsung wants to close a purchase within six months. Representatives for J. P. Morgan also declined to comment.

Sandisk’s stock was up 28.31% or $3.81 to $17.27 at the time of this writing.

Samsung is NOT 'the main chip supplier for Sandisk'...

Sep 05, 2008 12:06     

Samsung is NOT 'the main chip supplier for Sandisk'. They get almost all of their chips from Toshiba fabs either directly or through their mulitple joint ventures. They only use Samsung when they can't get enough from Toshiba, which hasn't been an issue recently.
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