Apple prepays $1.25B for iPod flash memory

Apple today announced that it has reached long-term supply agreements with Hynix, Intel, Micron, Samsung Electronics and Toshiba to secure the supply of NAND flash memory through 2010. As part of these agreements, Apple intends to prepay a total of $1.25 billion for flash memory components during the next three months. "We want to be able to produce as many of our wildly popular iPods as the market demands," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. Earlier this month, reports had emerged indicating that Apple had turned to Hynix to help supply flash-memory for the low-end iPod shuffles, following expected constraints on flash-memory for the holiday season and last week there were reports that Apple may sign a mega-memory deal with Samsung.

Filed under: iPod