SK Hynix CEO says will consider fresh bid for Toshiba chip unit stake

SEOUL (Reuters) - SK Hynix Inc will consider making a fresh bid for Toshiba Corp's flash memory chip business should the Japanese conglomerate offer more of it for sale, the chief executive of the South Korean chipmaker said on Thursday.

Toshiba initially put up almost 20 percent of the business for sale, to help it work through financial problems. It has since said it is considering selling most or all of the business. People familiar with the matter told Reuters that Toshiba aims to raise at least 1 trillion yen ($8.8 billion).

SK Hynix said earlier that it had submitted a non-binding bid for a stake in the business on Feb. 3, without specifying the size of the stake. It will consider a fresh bid should Toshiba make another offer, CEO Park Sung-wook told reporters on the sidelines of an industry event in Seoul.

SK Hynix trails in a NAND flash memory chip market led by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and second-ranked Toshiba.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Christopher Cushing)