TOKYO, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Western Digital Corp is in talks to gain voting rights of just under 16 percent in Toshiba Corp’s memory chip unit on the assumption that it will be listed in the future, Kyodo news agency reported on Thursday.

Kyodo did not cite sources or say who the U.S. firm was in talks with.

Western Digital, which jointly invests in Toshiba’s key chip plant, has offered to drop out of a group bidding for the unit to take a stronger position in their joint venture instead, sources told Reuters this week. (Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)