Where Will Apple Get Flash Memory Now? 245
An anonymous reader writes "EE Times examines whether Samsung could be about to control the equipment output of Apple by putting the Cupertino company on a rationed supply of NAND flash as the non-volatile memory goes into short supply in 2013. The analysis argues that Apple may need to put down billions of dollars of cash to fund a guaranteed NAND flash supply plan, something that Samsung did in the middle of the last decade."
Re:so who is samsung going to sell to? (Score:5, Interesting)
This.
The article is completely crap. Samsung will sell flash to anyone who will buy it, until they are out of capacity. Sure they will likely give better deals, faster delivery, whatever to their own mobile and computer divisions, but they are in the business of selling these chips. They are not out of spite going to ignore a huge customer.
Re:So much FUD (Score:4, Interesting)
Every time a company is not 100% vertically integrated you get these kind of fearmongering articles. NAND flash is a commodity, they can find it somewhere else.
But not necessarily at a price that makes people happy.
Re:so who is samsung going to sell to? (Score:4, Interesting)
How about Sandisk?
They're a 6 Billion dollar a year company in terms of revenue (about a quarter of Samsung), and with a market cap of 14 Billion they're quite purchasable.
The company has a shiny outlook thanks to the increase in flash prices this year [seekingalpha.com], so I would think that a takeover bid would be graciously accepted right now.
They have their own NAND fabs, have a growing SSD business (vertical integration with desktops?). The only stick point I can see is the Sansa music players, which might get buried during the buyout.
Re: Non story (Score:5, Interesting)
If flash gets tight, Adnroid tablet makers don't have many qualms about reducing internal flash and externalizing storage costs via (micro-)SD cards. As it is, a lot of those tablets might already be using lower capacity/spec flash that Apple wouldn't touch if it was free...