Apple Inc is considering teaming up with its supplier Foxconn to bid for Toshiba Corp’s semiconductor business, public broadcaster NHK said on Friday – the latest twist in the sale of the world’s second-biggest flash memory chipmaker.
Apple is considering investing at least several billion dollars to take a stake of more than 20 percent in a plan that would have Toshiba maintain a partial stake to keep the business under US and Japanese control, NHK reported, citing an unidentified source.
The proposal is aimed at allaying the Japanese government’s concerns over any transfer of sensitive technology to investors it deems a risk to national security, it said.
Apple was not immediately available to comment. Taiwan’s Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, declined to comment.
The report comes as Western Digital Corp, Toshiba’s partner and one of the bidders of its chip business, warned this week that the Japanese firm is violating a joint venture contract in plans to sell to its chip unit, and urged that it be given exclusive negotiating rights.
Toshiba has narrowed down the field of bidders for its chip unit to four suitors, sources have said previously.
They are US chipmaker Broadcom Ltd, which has partnered with private equity firm Silver Lake Partners LP; South Korean chip maker SK Hynix; Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, and Western Digital.
Reuters
Publish date: April 14, 2017 11:45 am| Modified date: April 14, 2017 11:45 am
Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Google have joined bidding for Toshiba’s NAND flash memory unit, vying with others for the Japanese firm’s prized semiconductor operation, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported on Saturday.
Toshiba shareholders on Thursday agreed to split off its NAND flash memory business, paving the way for a sale to raise at least $9 billion to cover U.S. nuclear unit charges that threaten the conglomerate’s future.
The Yomiuri newspaper said bidding prices from Apple, Amazon or Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, were not known.
The Nikkei business daily reported on Friday that U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake Partners and U.S. chipmaker Broadcom Ltd have offered Toshiba about 2 trillion yen ($18 billion) for the unit.
About 10 potential bidders are interested in buying a stake in the microchip operation, a source with knowledge of the planned sale told Reuters earlier.
Suitors include Western Digital Corp, which operates a chip plant with Toshiba in Japan, Micron Technology Inc, South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc and financial investors.
Toshiba officials were not immediately available for comment.
Reuters
Publish date: April 1, 2017 12:47 pm| Modified date: April 1, 2017 12:47 pm
Japanese conglomerate Toshiba Corp swung to an operating profit in the July-September quarter, driven by strong demand for NAND flash memory chips from Chinese smartphone makers.
That boom in demand has been a blessing for Toshiba, which is seeking to recover from a $1.3 billion accounting scandal by turning itself into a company more focused on chips, nuclear energy and social infrastructure while getting rid of unprofitable businesses.
Toshiba posted an operating profit of 76.7 billion yen ($721 million) for the second quarter, versus a loss of 82.6 billion yen in the same period a year earlier. The result was roughly in line with a revised forecast announced in late October.
In addition to robust orders from Chinese smartphone vendors eager to upgrade their devices with memory chips with larger storage capacity, Toshiba is receiving an additional boost from Apple Inc’s iPhone 7.
An advanced Toshiba flash memory chip with a three-dimensional stacked cell structure is being used in a high-end model of the latest iPhone, analysts have said.
Toshiba forecasts its chips and devices division will be its the largest profit contributor, generating an operating profit of 130 billion yen this financial year.
But analysts have also said that Toshiba’s depleted capital base in the wake of the scandal could limit its ability to make the necessary investments crucial to staying competitive in the global chip industry.
Toshiba had a NAND flash market share of 19.4 percent in 2015, ranking second after Samsung Electronics Co which has a 30.8 percent share, according to research firm His.
Toshiba a couple of weeks ago rolled out a new family of OCZ-branded solid state drives – the XV500 series – targeting mainstream desktop and notebook owners interested in replacing their tired (and slow) spinning hard drive.
Now, Toshiba is addressing the entry-level market with its new OCZ TL100 family. Offered in capacities of 120GB and 240GB, both drives dish up sequential read and write speeds of up to 550MB/sec and 530MB/sec, respectively. Random read speeds on the two drives are identical at up to 85,000 IOPS, as are random write speeds at up to 80,000 IOPS.
In addition to its higher capacity, the 240GB should be a bit more durable as it’s rated for 60 TBW (total bytes written) with an average of 54GB per day. The smaller 120GB SSD can only do half that at 30TB or 27GB/day.
Both 7mm drives utilize Toshiba’s TLC (triple level cell) NAND flash and come backed by a three-year advanced warranty program. They also both consume a maximum of 1.6 watts and come with OCZ’s SSD management software. It’s unclear, however, which controller is running the show.
As for pricing, the 120GB TL100 will set you back just $44.99 while the larger drive commands $67.99. Toshiba hasn’t yet said when the drives will go on sale although I suspect they’ll drop in time for the holidays.
When you’re buying a laptop, don’t assume it offers good battery life. If a manufacturer isn’t touting the battery, it’s probably best to skip that notebook. You need to check the battery rating before you buy.
The best laptops never leave the user hanging. They have enough battery life to last an entire workday. After all, even if you bought a notebook with top-of-the-line specs, it’s a useless chunk of metal when the battery runs out.
My hunt for laptops with the best battery life shows there isn’t a clear answer. That’s because manufacturer battery ratings and real-world tests don’t always match up. So I relied on a combination of my own experience, hardware knowledge, third-party reviews, and user reviews to come up with this list.
The Toshiba Chromebook 2 still gives you about 12 hours of real-world usage, which is fantastic in any case. That’s despite an Intel Celeron processor, while other laptops at this price go for the low-performance Intel Atom processor.
Despite that, it has arguably the best battery life among all laptops running Chrome OS, with only the Acer Chromebook 13 (read our review) giving it some competition. Dell’s laptop lasts for 14–15 hours of real-world usage, and might go a little more if you dim the screen brightness a bit.
Multiple reviewers say the Vivobook E403SA should last for around 10–12 hours of real-world usage. That’s impressive in its own right, outpacing the MacBook Air, among others. But the cherry on top is the USB Type-C charging port on the E403SA. If you use a USB-C phone, you can charge your laptopand smartphone with the same cable. Convenience at its best!
The Asus Zenbook UX305 is a personal favorite. I even bought it after testing it, so the 9–10 hours figure comes from personal experience. This sleek laptop perfectly balances portability, performance, battery life, and features. It also packs a solid state drive, since SSDs are better for battery life. In fact, the Zenbook proves you’re wasting money if you buy an expensive laptop.Are You Wasting Money If You Buy An Expensive Laptop?Are You Wasting Money If You Buy An Expensive Laptop?The average consumer buys a laptop that costs about $600, a behavior that’s persisted for years. Yet there are also laptops on the market which cost two or even three times as much. Are they...READ MORE
However, there’s one thing to know. The Zenbook UX305 comes in several variants, and you need to buy the model with the Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) display. There’s also a high-res QHD model, but its battery life suffers due to the screen resolution. Stick with the Full HD version and you’ll be happy.
The 13-inch variant of the MacBook Air is still the best laptop to buy under $1,000. A big reason for that is the battery life. The MacBook Air 13 was the battery king for a long time, after all.Best Laptops Under $1,000 in 2016Best Laptops Under $1,000 in 2016Unlike desktop PCs, you are unlikely to upgrade your laptop by fitting in a couple of new parts. That's why when you're purchasing a new notebook, paying a premium makes sense.READ MORE
You can expect this battery life on the Intel Core i5 version. The Intel Core i7 version drops the battery rating by a couple of hours, which is still excellent if you need that extra power.
I’ve long said that the MacBook Air is an excellent value-for-money laptop. But if you’re planning on buying one, wait if you can. Apple is expected to refresh the line with new 6th generation Intel Skylake processors, which will again boost the battery slightly.
When it first launched, the XPS 13 actually didn’t have great battery life. But subsequent iterations have fixed this issue, and the 2016 version has been rated to last for 14–15 hours of real-world usage.
You need to purchase the non-touch XPS 13 to avail of this battery boost. The touchscreen version still has good battery, but it drops to about 9–10 hours.
The company recently updated the Blade Stealth to improve the battery life. Razer says you can expect nine hours on a single charge, so real-world usage should be about seven hours, going by the previous record. The laptop hasn’t been tested yet, so we can only guess.
If you want to play games on a laptop, you’ll need to sacrifice battery life to some extent. In that aspect, I find the Blade Stealth to be a better idea, since you can use the Razer Core external GPU with it too. That said, buy this only if you want a gaming machine.
Isn’t it nice when most reviewers agree on something? Almost every single user and reviewer has said that the ThinkPad X260 has the best battery life among all laptops today. It’s also good that this comes with the most reputed laptop brand in the world. Just remember to watch out for malware on Lenovo laptops.Now It's THREE Pre-Installed Malwares on Lenovo LaptopsNow It's THREE Pre-Installed Malwares on Lenovo LaptopsFor the third time in a year, Lenovo have been caught shipping customers computers laden with privacy-unfriendly malware, showing that they haven't learned the lessons from the public outcry over Superfish.READ MORE
The ThinkPad X260 is light enough to be portable while managing about 18 hours of battery life in most tests. Lenovo has one internal and two external batteries for this one. There’s a 23 Whr battery built in, and a 23 Whr external battery that can be plugged to the laptop. Lenovo also packs a 48 Whr external battery. You can swap the external batteries when you want. That’s some long battery life!
If you’re a working professional who needs a laptop that won’t die on you, and can do every office task you ask of it, the ThinkPad X260 is what you want.
We’re already at a point where you can go a full day without needing to charge your notebook. Do you need more battery life than that? What do you think is the ideal or minimum battery life needed from any laptop?
