Apple Inc. is considering joining a Western Digital Corp. bid for Toshiba Corp.'s chip unit and investing around ¥50 billion ($460 million), sources close to the matter said Friday.
Western Digital, Toshiba's chip venture partner, has approached Apple because the U.S. data storage company plans to refrain from making an initial investment in Toshiba Memory Corp. in order to speed up antitrust reviews should its bid succeed. It will also demand an expanded role in the chip plant it jointly runs with Toshiba.
Flash memory chips are a key component of smartphones. Apple's share of control in Toshiba Memory is still being discussed by the consortium members to avoid antitrust issues, the sources said.