There was that time Apple bought 1.25 billion dollars worth of flash [1].  And it&#x27;s later made similar payments for similar things [2,3].  220 billion in the bank is pretty excessive, but 1.5 billion is way too low for the sorts of things they want to do.<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;appleinsider.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;05&#x2F;11&#x2F;21&#x2F;apple_to_prepay_125b_for_ipod_flash_memory.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;appleinsider.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;05&#x2F;11&#x2F;21&#x2F;apple_to_prepay_12...</a>
[2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;appleinsider.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;09&#x2F;07&#x2F;21&#x2F;apple_prepays_for_a_half_billion_dollars_in_flash_memory" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;appleinsider.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;09&#x2F;07&#x2F;21&#x2F;apple_prepays_for_...</a>
[3] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;apple&#x2F;2011&#x2F;12&#x2F;apple-lays-down-half-a-billion-to-secure-its-flash-storage-future&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;apple&#x2F;2011&#x2F;12&#x2F;apple-lays-down-half-a-...</a>