Apple and Dell are said to be joining a Foxconn-led consortium, along with US memory product manufacturer Kingston Technology, in a bid for Toshiba’s memory chip unit. Amazon is also reportedly close to joining.

According to Reuters, Foxconn’s founder and chief executive Terry Gou has also stated that the Taiwanese company is in talks with Google, Microsoft and Cisco Systems about joining up with the bid. However, he has declined to disclose how much each of the firms planned to invest in the bid.

Toshiba values its NAND chips unit at around $18bn and is seeking a buyer to cover billions of dollars in costs incurred at its now-bankrupt US nuclear business Westinghouse Electric.

Despite this, Foxconn, and its consortium, may face difficulties in completing the acquisition due to the Japanese government. The government has said that it will block any deal that would risk the transfer of key chip tech out of the country – and none of the confirmed members of Foxconn’s consortium are based in Japan. Although, it is alleged that SoftBank has also joined.