Ropes & Gray and Morrison & Foerster are acting on either side of Japanese technology giant Toshiba's $18bn (£13bn) sale of its chip business to an investor group led by Bain Capital.

The consortium includes US technology companies Apple and Dell and South Korean chip maker SK Hynix. 

Ropes is advising long-term client Bain. Its team is being led by private equity partner Tsuyoshi Imai in Tokyo, with assistance from a cross-border team including Boston private equity partner Will Shields, London competition partner Ruchit Patel, Boston and San Francisco litigation partners Randall Bodner and Anne Johnson Palmer, and Silicon Valley intellectual property transactions partner Megan Baca.

Nagashima is Japanese law advisor for Bain.

Toshiba turned to local firm Nishimura and Asahi for advice on M&A, as well as MoFo. The US firm's team includes Tokyo managing partner Kenneth Siegel, corporate partners Ivan Smallwood and Leo Aguilar, technology transactions partner Stuart Beraha, and IP partner and co-chair of the firm's commercial litigation and trial practice group Louise Stoupe.

It is understood Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is acting for Apple, and Dechert and Kim & Chang are representing SK Hynix.

The consortium also includes investment groups Hoya, Seagate and Kingston.

Pillsbury is advising Hoya, while Seagate has instructed Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and Kingston has instructed Akin Gump.

The Akin Gump team is being led by corporate partner Paul Lin, and includes fellow corporate partners Jeffrey Kochian and Carlos Bermudez, and intellectual property partner Kevin McBride.

Wilson Sonsini is fielding a team led by chairman Larry Sonsini, and fellow corporate partners Katharine Martin, Bradley Finkelstein, Michael Ringler and Todd Cleary, and technology transactions partner Selwyn Goldberg.

Ropes is also currently advising regular client Bain on the sale of Seoul-based cosmetics maker Carver Korea for $2.7bn (£2bn) to Unilever. That team includes Seoul partner Jaewoo Lee and Boston partner William Mone.

Previously, MoFo advised Toshiba in 2011 on its $2.3bn (£1.7bn) purchase of electricity provider Landis+Gyr AG. Earlier this year, the firm also advised Landis+Gyr on its $2.4bn (£1.7bn) initial public offering, marking a break away from the Japanese conglomerate.

Meanwhile, Apple instructed Freshfields last year when the European Commission ordered the technology giant to pay up to €13bn (£11bn) in back taxes to Ireland. Its team on the case includes Brussels competition partner Andreas von Bonin.

Last month, the Irish government said it would collect the money pending an appeal of the ruling by Apple. According to reports, the appeal could take as long as five years.