Apple Buys 'Anobit', an Israeli Technology Firm

Apple said on Wednesday it had bought Israel's Anobit, a maker of flash storage technology whose chips it already uses in gadgets such as the iPad.

Israeli media reported on December 20 that Apple bought Anobit for as much as $500 million, its first acquisition of an Israeli company. Apple declined to comment at the time.

"Yes ... we did buy Anobit," Apple spokesman Alan Hely said in an e-mail to Reuters, declining to elaborate. "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

Anobit has developed a chip that enhances flash drive performance through signal processing. The chip is already incorporated in Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPad and the MacBook Air.

(Reuters)