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Intel Sells SSD Business and Fab to Sk Hynix, New 'Solidigm' Subsidiary Planned

34 points by ItsTotallyOn 5y ago

kelnos 5y ago
Not sure I get this. SK Hynix already makes SSDs, don't they? Either way, feels not great to lose another business to a Chinese company, even if this one will be headquartered in San Jose, CA.
- cyckl 5y ago
  SK Hynix is South Korean—no?
- rrmm 5y ago
  I thought Hynix was South Korean; the fab was located in China. Or am I misunderstanding things?
  - ksec 5y ago
    >Or am I misunderstanding things? I think OP just got it mixed up. The Intel NAND Fab is in China and sold to a South Korean Company. SK Hynix. Once merge they could become the 2nd / 3rd largest NAND manufacture, depending on talks between Kioxia and Western Digital merger.
  - kelnos 5y ago
    Oh, duh, I guess the "SK" stands for "South Korea". I guess I got confused with the location of the fab being in China, as another commenter points out.
systemvoltage 5y ago
Intel needs to focus and this is the right move. Intel did a bunch of shitty acquisitions during the time of BK, then the CEO of Intel. BK was a terrible visionary, jumping from drones to mobile-eye to velocicopters and sports media. BK, along with Sohail, directly caused the 10nm shitshow. At one point, Intel wanted to build a fitbit competitor. What happened to Realsense? What an epic boondoggle. IoT train never came. Intel NUCs have recent resurgence, but about the only 'edge' compute that's surviving. BK wasn't crucified by the investors because the datacenter revenue kept on growing which was basically on autopilot. Under his leadership, Intel slumped as the leader of semiconductor manufacturing and handed over the the crown to TSMC around 2016. This is just Pat cleaning things up internally, but I think with all the things that have been swept under the rug, the rug might have gotten spoiled.
- spicybeef 5y ago
  This was in the works well before Pat came in; it happened during the Bob Swan reign: https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/19/intel-agrees-to-sell-its-nand-business-to-sk-hynix-for-9-billion/ https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/19/intel-agrees-to-sell-its-n... It's only now just closing after getting the final approval from China. Optane is the only thing Intel is keeping from the deal. I don't think Pat would have dumped the org.

34 points by ItsTotallyOn 5y ago

Not sure I get this. SK Hynix already makes SSDs, don't they? Either way, feels not great to lose another business to a Chinese company, even if this one will be headquartered in San Jose, CA.

cyckl 5y ago
SK Hynix is South Korean—no?
rrmm 5y ago
I thought Hynix was South Korean; the fab was located in China. Or am I misunderstanding things?
- ksec 5y ago
  >Or am I misunderstanding things? I think OP just got it mixed up. The Intel NAND Fab is in China and sold to a South Korean Company. SK Hynix. Once merge they could become the 2nd / 3rd largest NAND manufacture, depending on talks between Kioxia and Western Digital merger.
- kelnos 5y ago
  Oh, duh, I guess the "SK" stands for "South Korea". I guess I got confused with the location of the fab being in China, as another commenter points out.

systemvoltage 5y ago

Intel needs to focus and this is the right move. Intel did a bunch of shitty acquisitions during the time of BK, then the CEO of Intel. BK was a terrible visionary, jumping from drones to mobile-eye to velocicopters and sports media. BK, along with Sohail, directly caused the 10nm shitshow. At one point, Intel wanted to build a fitbit competitor. What happened to Realsense? What an epic boondoggle. IoT train never came. Intel NUCs have recent resurgence, but about the only 'edge' compute that's surviving. BK wasn't crucified by the investors because the datacenter revenue kept on growing which was basically on autopilot. Under his leadership, Intel slumped as the leader of semiconductor manufacturing and handed over the the crown to TSMC around 2016. This is just Pat cleaning things up internally, but I think with all the things that have been swept under the rug, the rug might have gotten spoiled.

spicybeef 5y ago
This was in the works well before Pat came in; it happened during the Bob Swan reign: https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/19/intel-agrees-to-sell-its-nand-business-to-sk-hynix-for-9-billion/ https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/19/intel-agrees-to-sell-its-n... It's only now just closing after getting the final approval from China. Optane is the only thing Intel is keeping from the deal. I don't think Pat would have dumped the org.