Chipmaker Western Digital walks away from Kioxia merger talks

Western Digital has abruptly walked out of merger talks with Kioxia, shattering Bain Capital’s ambitions to create a US-Japan memory-chip champion, according to three people with direct knowledge of the negotiations.

The talks collapsed after South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix, which has a significant indirect stake in Kioxia, declared its opposition to the deal amid concerns the combined entity could challenge its position in the Nand memory sector. Analysts said the merged entity’s market share would be double that of SK Hynix.