The government said Tuesday it wanted Toshiba and partner Western Digital to cooperate, expressing concern about an escalating dispute between the two that threatens to upend the sale of Toshiba's chip unit.
Western Digital sought international arbitration this week to stop Toshiba from selling the unit without its consent, arguing that the Japanese conglomerate has violated contracts relating to their joint venture that operates Toshiba's main semiconductor plant.
On Tuesday evening, Toshiba said it would put on hold a decision to block Western Digital employees from the joint venture chip plant as well as databases, a threat it had said it would carry out if the U.S. company did not sign a broad collaboration agreement that the two had negotiated.