SK Hynix's $9 billion acquisition of Intel's NAND unit gets full approval

China's State Administration for Market Regulation has given SK Hynix, the South Korean memory and chipmaking giant, approval to acquire Intel's NAND storage unit for $9 billion.

The deal, which sees Hynix pay $7 billion in the first phase (with the other $2 billion coming by March 2025), has also received approval from US and EU regulators and China's approval means Hynix's largest-ever deal can go ahead.

China did however stipulate several conditions for the deal, including ensuring that prices and supplies remain at similar levels to today to "helping a third party break into" the SSD market.

To Hynix and beyond

Hynix hopes the deal will help cement its position as one of the world's largest NAND storage manufactures, as the technology is used in pretty much all modern smartphones. Samsung is the current leader in the NAND market.

The company is also set to take over Intel's factory in Dalian, China as part of the deal. TrendForce estimates this will increase Hynix's market share of flash-based memory components to over 20%.

"SK Hynix will enhance its competitiveness of NAND Flash and SSD business by continuing the remaining post-merger integration process," the company said.