Toshiba Wins $5-Billion Dell Computer Deal

Toshiba America Electronics Components Inc. said Monday that it has signed a three-year deal worth about $5 billion to supply Dell Computer Corp. with memory and display products, giving Toshiba’s Japanese parent company its largest overseas contract ever.

Other products, such as batteries and color display tubes, would be added as the partnership develops, Irvine-based Toshiba America said in a news release.

Toshiba America, the North American engineering, manufacturing, marketing and sales arm of Toshiba Corp. in Tokyo, said it doesn’t expect to add any new employees in Orange County as a result of the contract. The U.S. company has 700 employees nationwide, including 250 in Irvine.

The agreement will give Toshiba America and Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, new marketing opportunities for their respective products and will enable them to create a long-term technology alliance, Toshiba said.

The contract is the largest non-Japanese deal for Toshiba Corp. or its subsidiaries, said Toshiba America spokeswoman Annette Keller. The agreement is renewable in one-year increments.

Worldwide, Toshiba Corp. has 191,000 employees and annual sales of more than $50 billion.

U.S. operations account for more than 80% of Toshiba’s worldwide production of memory components. The unit’s sales in the latest fiscal year exceeded $2 billion.