HardwareStorageSSDsKioxia aims to sweet talk SK Hynix into letting the Western Digital merger go ahead, with a new manufacturing deal as the carrot this time aroundWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
HardwareStorageSSDsKioxia aims to sweet talk SK Hynix into letting the Western Digital merger go ahead, with a new manufacturing deal as the carrot this time aroundWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Future)

SK Hynix is keen on preventing the merger because as things currently stand, it’s second only to Kioxia and Samsung in the flash memory market: Western Digital is the world’s fourth largest supplier but it’s a far way behind SK Hynix. If WD and Kioxia did combine forces, the single group would almost certainlypass Samsung at the top of the sales chart.
One could argue that even if this did come to pass, SK Hynix would still be in third place, so there would be no change in that sense. And there’s also the potential for WD to switch from using Micron’s flash chips to SK Hynix’s, which would help boost its own revenue.
However, unlike WD, Kioxia makes its own NAND flash and the merger is far more likely to result in Western Digital products using those chips rather than anyone else’s. While this wouldn’t affect SK Hynix’s global position in the supplier ranks, it would remove a source of new revenue from them.
Peak Storage(Image credit: Future)Best SSD for gaming: The best speedy storage today.Best NVMe SSD: Compact M.2 drives.Best external hard drives: Huge capacities for less.Best external SSDs: Plug-in storage upgrades.
Peak Storage
(Image credit: Future)Best SSD for gaming: The best speedy storage today.Best NVMe SSD: Compact M.2 drives.Best external hard drives: Huge capacities for less.Best external SSDs: Plug-in storage upgrades.
(Image credit: Future)

Best SSD for gaming: The best speedy storage today.Best NVMe SSD: Compact M.2 drives.Best external hard drives: Huge capacities for less.Best external SSDs: Plug-in storage upgrades.
The SSD industry is waking up to the fact that Chinese firms, such asYMTC, are producing perfectly decent NAND flash in large quantities. One ofthe best SSDsyou get at the moment, theLexar NM790, uses YMTC chips rather than anything from Japan, Taiwan, or the USA.
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Will this manufacturing deal be enough to sway SK Hynix? Given how the merger has been knocked repeatedly time and time again, I doubt it will make any difference but stranger things have happened in the semiconductor industry. Best not to drop a few dollars on a bet with this one.
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