SEOUL (Reuters). South Korean SK Hynix Inc announced that it has completed its first phase in the acquisition of Intel Corp After receiving regulatory approvals from eight countries, including China, the NAND flash memory chips business was purchased by (NASDAQ:).

SK Hynix will receive $7 billion of the total deal’s $9 billion value, according to a statement released by the second-largest manufacturer of memory chips in the world.

This deal was signed in 2020 and will let Intel focus its Optane Memory business, which is smaller but much more profitable. It is the largest acquisition by SK Hynix in its history. The company seeks to increase its manufacturing capacity for NAND chips that store data on smartphones and servers.

Park Jung-ho is vice chairman and coCEO at SK Hynix.

Solidigm will handle the recently acquired NAND solid drive (SSD), business of SK Hynix, a subsidiary of SK Hynix based in San Jose California.

SK Hynix stated that Lee Seok-hee, co-CEO of SK Hynix, will become executive chairman for Solidigm. Rob Crooke (ex-senior vice president at Intel) will then be named CEO of Solidigm.

According to the statement, the second phase will close either in March 2025 or later. This includes the payment of $2 billion. It will also include SK Hynix’s purchase of Intel’s assets, including intellectual property, in NAND.