SK hynix denies Japanese media report on Korean gov’t pressure over Kioxia-WD merger

SK hynix Inc., the world's second-largest memory chipmaker, on Monday denied a recent media report that it has been pressured by the South Korean government to approve the merger between Japanese Kioxia Corp. and U.S.-based Western Digital (WD) Corp. According to the report last month, the Japanese NAND flash memory manufacturer and the American memory chipmaker are set to resume negotiations on management integration, which have been stalled due to SK hynix's opposition, in April. Citing an unnamed third-party source, the newspaper said the South Korean government, along with U.S. and Japanese officials, has tried to "persuade" SK hynix to give the green light to the proposed merger aimed at creating an American-Japanese memory chip giant. "SK hynix would like to make it very clear that this is not true. SK hynix has never faced such pressure or persuasion efforts by the Korean government," the company said in a release. "SK hynix would like to correct this part of the media report, which has been leadin g to a series of wrong reports." SK hynix, a major investor in Kioxia through a Korean-American-Japanese consortium led by Bain Capital, holds a key position in the approval process for the Kioxia-WD merger plan. While it has not agreed to the merger between Kioxia and WD, the South Korean chipmaker has expressed its intention to maintain cooperation with the Japanese company. Source: Yonhap News Agency