Samsung Electronics will hold a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday for its second memory fabrication line in Xian, China, according to industry sources. A total of KRW8 trillion (US$7.47 billion) will be invested in the construction.

More analysts raised their price targets on shares following better-than-expected earnings though shares were down 8.2% at last check in Friday trading, their worst one-day percentage decline since late November.

Chinese memory chip manufacturers pose no serious threat yet to established players, Micron Technology CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said, citing high barriers to entry for aspiring global suppliers.

Samsung plans to invest US$7 billion over the next three years for the expansion project.

Intel intends to expand its partnership with Beijing-backed Tsinghua Unigroup by providing NAND flash memory chips as soon as this year, according to industry sources.

Toshiba is considering an IPO of its prized memory chip business if an agreed $18 billion sale to a Bain Capital-led consortium fails to gain antitrust approval by the end of March, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

Price increases for both DRAM and NAND flash memory are raising the outlook for the overall semiconductor market.

South Korea's SK Hynix said on Wednesday its board had approved its participation in a Bain Capital-led consortium that plans to purchase Toshiba's memory chip unit for JPY2 trillion (US$17.7 billion).

Toshiba told its main banks on Monday it has not signed the $18 billion sale of its semiconductor business because Apple, a member of the buyer group, has not agreed on key terms, two people involved in the deal said.

Japan's Toshiba has selected a group led by US private equity firm Bain Capital to buy its prized memory chip unit, three people with knowledge of the talks said on Wednesday, the latest dramatic twist to a highly contentious auction.

Headhunters have been recruiting at Toshiba's Yokkaichi chip fabrication facilities in recent months.

SK Hynix is reportedly considering taking legal action against Toshiba after being rebuffed by the Japanese conglomerate during the auction process of a memory-chip unit without appropriate notice, according to sources close to the matter.

Toshiba may not seal a $17.5 billion deal to sell its memory chip unit by a self-imposed Aug. 31 deadline due to disagreements over details of an offer by the bidders, people familiar with the matter said late on Tuesday.

Nintendo's latest videogame machine, the Nintendo Switch, is winning fans for both its lineup of popular games and its flexibility-it works as both a living-room console and a hand-held device.

Huawei had had a difficult time when it installed different NAND flash chips into its strategic Smartphone called P10 during first half of 2017. Into a same product, it installed eMMC and UFS standard storage device. Unexpectedly level of dissatisfaction from consumers who purchased P10 equipped with eMMC increased heavily. Industries believe that Huawei made a bad move by failing to obtain NAND flash memories.

Western Digital, part of a group offering to buy Toshiba Corp's (6502.T) memory chip unit, is not seeking a management role in the business, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

Western Digital Corp.'s "Marry Me, or I'll Sue" tactics may have actually worked.

Japan's Toshiba is prioritising talks with Western Digital to sell its memory chip business, as negotiations with a previously preferred bidder have stalled, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday.

Toshiba's main bank creditors have urged the embattled borrower to conclude a deal to sell its memory chip subsidiary this month (August 2017) to ensure the transaction is completed by the fiscal year-end next March, bringing in desperately needed capital

Western Digital said it will move forward with arbitration to get a say over Toshiba's sale of its chip unit after the Japanese company agreed to provide notice before closing.

It has been confirmed that SK Hynix started mass-producing 4th generation (72-layer) 3D NAND flash wafers and achieved ?˜golden yield', which had been SK Hynix's biggest obstacle. Its solution product that uses its own controller and firmware passed certifications.

Toshiba is well within its rights to sell its memory operations, the Japanese conglomerate has told business partner Western Digital in response to efforts by the hard-drive supplier to block the auction, it was learned Tuesday.

Toshiba temporarily canceled all meetings and decisions related to the sale of its memory chip business to address concerns raised by an industry partner, people familiar with the matter said.

A recent report out of Japan says three of tech's biggest and most prominent companies are interested in bidding on Toshiba's memory chip business. Can this be true?

A Japanese public-private consortium is being assembled to bid for a stake in Toshiba's newly spun-off memory unit in hopes of heading off potential outflows of technology and talent from the country, it was learned Friday.

Struggling Toshiba's planned semiconductor business sell-off has attracted bids of more than JPY2 trillion ($18.1 billion) from two foreign companies.

Toshiba shareholders agreed to split off its prized NAND flash memory unit on Thursday, paving the way for a sale to raise at least $9 billion to cover US nuclear unit charges that threaten the conglomerate's future.

Toshiba's plan to divest its memory chip business has Japanese corporate leaders worried that critical information technology could leak to foreign companies - particularly those in China.

Intel is warning its channel partners that demand for SSDs is expected to outstrip supply for all of 2017, forcing the company to prioritize its production for data center SSDs over lower-cost consumer SSDs.

As major player Toshiba's flash memory business is up for sale, global chipmakers are weighing their chances of competing against Samsung, which has a runaway lead in 3D NAND flash technology.

Toshiba wants to pick the preferred bidder or bidders for a majority stake in its chip unit by the end of May and will hold the first round of bids next month, a source with knowledge of the plan said.

Toshiba has asked potential bidders for its memory chip business to peg the operations' value at JPY2 trillion (US$17.6 billion) or more, aiming to maximize income from the sale of its crown jewel.

Toshiba may delay the sale of its prized flash-memory chip unit after the conglomerate said it would consider selling most, even all, of the marquee business, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Toshiba has received bids from South Korea's SK Hynix, Taiwan's Foxconn, private equity fund Silver Lake and at least three other groups for a minority stake in its profitable memory chip business, according to people close to the negotiations.

Toshiba said it will sell a minority stake in its memory chip business as it urgently seeks funds to offset an imminent multi-billion dollar writedown, adding that its overseas nuclear division-the cause of its woes-was now under review.

Toshiba is expected to sell no more than 19.9% of the unit to be created in a spinoff of its memory chip operations.

Samsung Electronics plans to mass produce 64-layer NAND flash memory for the first time in the world early in 2017, while SK hynix plans to mass produce 72-layer NAND flash in the second half of 2017 jumping over 64-layer NAND flash.

SK Hynix, one of South Korea's leading manufacturers of memory semiconductors, plans to leapfrog rival Samsung Electronics to mass produce the most-advanced generation of NAND flash - chips that feature 72 layers of data-storing cells.

CEO Durcan sees supply-demand balance persisting in 2017.

Samsung was Apple's main supplier for the iPhones from the very beginning, making the A-series processors and supplying both NAND flash and DRAM memory chips.