Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. unit Google have each submitted bids for Toshiba Corp.'s NAND flash memory unit, Reuters reported March 31 citing the Yomiuri Shimbun daily.

The struggling Japanese company gained shareholder approval to spin off its memory chip business March 30 as part of a plan to put it up for sale to raise at least $9 billion to offset a write-down at Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC, which recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The Nikkei business daily on March 31 reported that Toshiba was offered 2 trillion yen from Silver Lake Partners and Broadcom Ltd. for the NAND flash memory unit.

Approximately 10 potential buyers are interested in acquiring a stake in the microchip operation, a source with knowledge of the planned sale told Reuters.

Western Digital Corp., Micron Technology Inc., SK Hynix and financial investors are among the suitors.