Toshiba Corp. has told partner Western Digital Corp. to stop interfering in plans to sell its memory chip business, warning it may take legal action to prevent the U.S. company from derailing the sale.
Toshiba sent two letters to Western Digital on May 3 that were obtained by Bloomberg. One from Toshiba's lawyers asserts the Japanese company's right to sell its part of the semiconductor joint venture, despite objections from the U.S. hard disk maker. The second, sent by Toshiba to Western Digital's chief legal officer, says the U.S. company failed to ratify a proposal to formalize their relationship after a merger, and that Toshiba would bar Western Digital employees from its facilities and networks unless it complies by May 15.
Western Digital became Toshiba's manufacturing partner in the flash memory business when it acquired SanDisk Corp. for $15.8 billion last year. That unit may now pass into the hands of a new owner after Toshiba decided to put it up for sale to shore up its balance sheet following multibillion-dollar losses in its nuclear business. Toshiba has narrowed the list of potential buyers to a group that includes Western Digital rivals, including Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., South Korea's SK Hynix Inc. and chipmaker Broadcom Ltd.