European Commission approves SK hynix's acquisition of Intel's NAND biz

SK hynix Inc's acquisition of Intel Corp.'s NAND business has been approved by Europe's antitrust watchdog.

South Korea's second-largest chipmaker received unconditional clearance from the European Commission for its takeover of the Intel unit.

The US$9 billion deal, which was signed last October, includes Intel's solid-state drive business and a NAND flash chip plant in Dalian, China.

The South Korean firm had so far obtained approval from antitrust regulators in major countries.

Antitrust reviews from six countries, including South Korea, China, and the UK, are currently in progress.

SK hynix expects to obtain approval from those countries by year's end.

The acquisition deal received approval from United States' Federal Trade Commission last year and the Committee on Foreign Investment in March.

SK hynix, the fourth-largest NAND flash producer with a market share of 11.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to industry tracker TrendForce.

The acquisition of Intel's NAND business is projected to make SK hynix the world's second-largest NAND flash vendor behind Samsung Electronics Co.