SK hynix Inc., a leading South Korean chipmaker, said Friday it has signed a deal to take over the expansion card division of U.S. firm Violin Memory Inc. It did not reveal the value of the deal.

The South Korean chipmaker plans to finalize the deal at the end of June, absorbing assets, personnel and patents of the division of the company based in Santa Clara, California, it said.

Known as PCI Express or PCIe, the high-speed expansion card format connects a computer with its attached peripherals. The takeover is viewed as an effort by the South Korean company to strengthen its competitiveness in NAND flash solutions.

Earlier, SK hynix acquired Link_A_Media Devices Corp. (LAMD), a world leader in data storage controller technology in June 2012, which was renamed SK hynix Memory Solutions.

Last year, the chipmaker established a research and development center, SK hynix Flash Solutions Taiwan Ltd., in Taiwan. (Yonhap)