OSAKA- Japan's Sharp Corp.  which is rebuilding its operations under Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., may withdraw its bid for Toshiba Corp.'s  flash memory unit if takeover negotiations are prolonged, a senior Sharp official said Monday.

"Technology-related opportunities will be lost if the talks are prolonged," the official said.

The comment suggests that Sharp is concerned about the possibility of extended takeover procedures causing the memory unit to fall behind rivals on technology development, eventually diminishing its business value.

Sharp teamed up with Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group, for the offer to buy the unit, Toshiba Memory Corp., in the second round of an auction.

Toshiba split off its lucrative memory business for a sale, aiming to secure funds to resolve its negative net worth caused by huge losses from its US nuclear power business.

On June 21, Toshiba decided to grant a Japan-US-South Korea consortium the preferential right to negotiate for its memory unit. The consortium is led by Japanese entities, including government-backed investment fund Innovation Network Corp. of Japan.

"If the story is messy, we'll give up on the deal," the senior Sharp official said. (Jiji Press)