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Report: Apple to Buy Flash Memory Company for $500 Million

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You know how the song goes! "All I want for Christmas is my own flash memory company..."

It looks like Apple may be preparing to use a small portion of its billions to acquire another company. According to the latest reports, Apple is reportedly gearing up to purchase an Israeli fabless semiconductor company that specializes in streamlining flash memory.

Israel's Calcalist reports that Apple is in talks to buy Israel-based Anobit for $400 million to $500 million. According to the Hebrew website, the company's chips are already integrated into some of Apple's biggest products, including the iPhone, the iPad and the MacBook Air. Anobit uses a unique signal processing technology called Memory Signal Processing, which is said to significantly improve endurance and performance while cutting down on the cost of flash storage. Apple apparently wants to buy the company so it can boost memory and improve memory reliability on its devices.

If the deal goes through, it will join the very small number of hardware companies that Apple has acquired over the year. So far, this list includes just four other companies: NeXT, Raycer Graphics, Intrinsity and P.A. Semi.

Check out the original report (in Hebrew) here.

27 Comments Comment from the forums
  • nebun 14 December 2011 19:12
    apple might be getting a little to big for it's britches....they need to slow down
    Reply
  • theconsolegamer 14 December 2011 19:23
    nebunapple might be getting a little to big for it's britches....they need to slow downPut on your seat-belts because Apple is just warming up.
    Reply
  • digiex 14 December 2011 19:48
    Apple... can I have a bite?
    Reply
  • batkerson 14 December 2011 19:51
    "Apple apparently wants to buy the company so it can boost memory and improve memory reliability on its devices" OR Apple doesn't want anyone else to have the technology. Any international patents owned by Anobit, eh?
    Reply
  • freggo 14 December 2011 19:57
    Think about it, all that iSometrhing success, Billions in the Bank... and they are still just a minor player in the Computerworld. Windows and Linux rule; ah yes, and let's not forget that the Mac OS is basically just a Linux port running on PC/Intel Hardware.
    As an investor that must make you wonder how long that iBonanza is going to last !
    I, for one, have the feeling that in say 5 years from now Apple may easily have fallen back to where they used to be; a provider of design over content for the iCrowd with more money than brains.

    Don't get me wrong. This is not Apple bashing. It is simply a statement that Apple is about as over hyped at the moment as the Florida real estate market was a few years ago. Windows is an overblown piece of junk code, but they do have a market share that all the iPads in the world can not topple.

    Reply
  • silentbobdc 14 December 2011 20:01
    Probably a patent grab.
    Reply
  • CaedenV 14 December 2011 20:46
    I agree, it has to be a patent grab. Apple has always been very careful to stay in the software and design realm, and stay away from manufacturing. But then again Jobs is dead, it could be this is something he has always blocked in the past, but that the board wants to do (remember the board/management is what killed apple last time Jobs was away).
    Reply
  • molo9000 14 December 2011 20:54
    freggoMac OS is basically just a Linux port running on PC/Intel Hardware.
    Mac OS X and Linux are both unix-like systems (Mac OS X is actually Unix certified), but that's where the relationship ends. They are entirely separate developments.
    The Mac OS X kernel (XNU) even predates Linux by 2 years.
    Reply
  • jimmy-bee 14 December 2011 20:56
    nebunapple might be getting a little to big for it's britches....they need to slow downOh and the convicted monopolist MS isn't.
    Reply
  • jimmy-bee 14 December 2011 20:58
    molo9000Mac OS X and Linux are both unix-like systems (Mac OS X is actually Unix certified), but that's where the relationship ends. They are entirely separate developments.The Mac OS X kernel (XNU) even predates Linux by 2 years.Thank you for correcting the ill informed.
    Reply