Sam, I suspect any agreement between Toshiba and Infineon would relate to other types of chips, not removable flash memory, which is the only product made at the Virginia plant. There may be some agreement to share in the distribution of flash chips, but again, it should be noted that Toshiba and SanDisk have a 50-50 joint venture and they share the output of this plant equally.
The only external factor that might affect the profitability of this plant, as far as I can determine, would be competing production from other companies, such as Lexar, Memorex, Pretec, Viking, etc. To the extent that those companies pay royalties to SanDisk, the royalties would at least compensate partly for the current overcapacity. To the extent that those companies DON'T pay royalties (but should), it's possible that some will decide to abandon the market rather than have their margins further reduced by royalty payments.
Art |