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Fujitsu, AMD Talks On Flash Continue, Says Report

Fujitsu Ltd has said that talks with Advanced Micro Devices Inc concerning their decade-old flash memory co-operation continue but that no decisions have yet been taken, according to reports from Japan.

Fujitsu is said to have confirmed talks were taking place with AMD after the U.K.'s Financial Times reported that the two planned to integrate their flash memory operations.

Fujitsu and AMD already have a 50-50 joint venture in flash memory manufacture in Japan called Fujitsu-AMD Semiconductor Ltd. (FASL), but Fujitsu and AMD each take their share of the flash memory production and then markets the chips separately.

The latest discussions would seem to be about who takes control of a newly-created independent flash device manufacturer to rival market leader Intel Corp and how the other company would be recompensed. The FT account in October said AMD is to take majority control with a 60% share in the new company.

The two sides hope to reach an agreement before the end of the year Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper is now reported as saying.

AMD has other sources of flash memory manufacture and it may be that how they are valued in the context of a jointly-held but independent flash device maker is one subject of discussion. How a newly-created flash maker would finance the acquisition of high-volume next-generation manufacturing capacity is likely to be a second topic.