Let's say they exercised the option tomorrow, its a non...

Let's say they exercised the option tomorrow, its a non exclusive licence. 4DS (or whoever owns the tech in the future) can still licence it elsewhere to generate other revenue... Or future owner could use it in their own products depending on what type of company it is (chip maker, product maker, etc.).

would it affect profitability = yes, the option provides a discounted royalty arrangement for HGST. How much it impact depends on the quantum of the discount. I'm sure 4DS haven't even set a price yet, so kinda hard to know what this is today.

the BOD might not care too much about the future profit in other licencing arrangements, they just want a high sale price.

could it affect the sale price, depends:
> a company that would want to licence it out to generate revenue would like having a customer in hand before they bought (proves the opportunity)
> a company who would want to use the tech in their own chips / products might not like it (enables someone to compete with them).

Would be very interesting to see how a royalty agreement would work, given the memory is so flexible... If it is a very restricted licence (i.e. limit them to a specific application of the memory), then they could potentially generate separate royalties from HGST for each iteration (E.g. various retention/speed/endurance combinations). if that's the case then it's happy days, could look ok to either type of potential buyer. I'd say this is where lawyers would get busy - HGST try to argue it's access to all versions vs 4DS trying to close it down as much as possible.