According to the Reuters news agency, Toshiba has received bids from South Korea’s SK Hynix, Taiwan’s Foxconn, private-equity fund Silver Lake and at least three other groups for a minority stake in its semiconductor chip business (www.toshiba.co.jp/worldwide).

The sale of such a valuable asset comes as the Japanese industrial conglomerate attempts to raise cash to survive the forthcoming multi-billion-dollar write-down on its US nuclear business, which analysts speculate could be in the region of $4-7 billion.

Toshiba is said to be keen on selecting an investment fund — rather than a chip-maker — to ensure that the deal is closed by the end of its financial year (31 March).

SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest chip maker, became the first company to publicly announce that it had submitted a non-binding bid for the Toshiba unit (on 7 February).

It did not disclose its offer price and added that it is undecided whether to submit a final bid.

Foxconn declined to comment on whether it had submitted a bid, but did not rule it out.

The Apple supplier last year spent $3.5 billion acquiring the Japanese electronics group Sharp.