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Why Toshiba is buying Fujitsu's HDD business

18.02.2009
With the acquisition of 's hard-disk drive (HDD) business, would position itself to become a leading contender in the enterprise-class solid-state disk (SSD) drive market, as well as initially leap to the head of the pack in the 2.5-inch HDD space, say industry observers.

Toshiba and Fujitsu said today they had signed a provisional agreement under which . The deal is expected to close during April.

Fujitsu said it would hold onto 20% of its hard drive business for a not yet determined period of time to smooth the transition of the business to Toshiba, which will make it a subsidiary.

Fujitsu is a leader in enterprise-class 2.5-inch HDD market, as well as in mobile devices.

The fast growing 2.5-inch drive marketplace includes Hitachi, , , Fujitsu, Toshiba and Samsung. Fujitsu ranks third in number of units shipped, ahead of Seagate, says Tom Coughlin, an analyst with Coughlin Associates.

Last year, Fujitsu shipped 38.6 million 2.5-in HDDs. Only Hitachi, with 50.4 million, and Western Digital, with 50.3 million, lead it. Toshiba followed Fujitsu with 34.5 million, and Seagate trailed with 29.8 million units shipped.