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We are hearing that Toshiba is buying Western Digital's "excess" 3.5-inch disk drive business, clearing the way to the completion of the WD's acquisition of Hitachi GST .
The Hitachi GST acquisition has been blocked by EU and Chinese regulators due to competition concerns. The EU has required WD to offload some 3.5-inch hard disk drive capacity to prevent an undue concentration of the manufacturing in the sector.
According to our contacts Toshiba is getting a license for 3.5-inch nearline HDD intellectual property, business commitments including the supply of some amount of HGAs (Head Gimbal Assemblies), and a Hitachi GST plant in China.
Back in November, 2009 Toshiba said it wanted to enter the 3.5-inch HDD business. It now looks as if it is going to get a WD leg-up into that area of HDD supply. It had also been thought the Great Wall business in China was an alternative purchaser to Toshiba.
No information about the financial terms is available, but if the approval processes don't complete by 7 March there will be a $250m termination fee to be paid to HGST, sources report. The deal is done and will close before the end of March, we're told.
WD's head PR Honcho, Steve Shattuck, wasn't able to confirm the details, saying: "I know nothing about that." Even if the deal has actually been done we wouldn't expect WD to say anything until all the announcement ducks were lined up. To do otherwise is simply not the WD way.
Toshiba was not immediately able to respond to questions.
What we have here is a hot little tip in our sticky mitts about some very hot news and no confirmation. Take it for what it is and don't bet anything substantial on it until we get an official yea or nay from Toshiba and WD. ®
COMMENTS
Yeah it's always the crap that surfives
Look at Video (VHS) , computers (wintendo) and now cell-phone (iphone).
It's always the same the good stuff goes belly up the shit remains on the market.
I've seen the best of the best go belly up and expect things to turn for the worst the next decade orso. We're all doomed. Our economic system failing, our technology in the hands of thieves and criminals (without regards for environment, culture or social heritage), our leaders stealing the last bit of money from the few bits of middle-class that's left. We'll end with the filthy rich and the fulthy poor and nothing inbetween, no buffer zone. Only thing we'll need is some crazy SOB determined to kill certain ethnic populations and we're back in 1940's when half the world was turned to dark ages again.
But at least we'll have 'Angry birds', Facebook and Youtube to keep us occupied in the shelters :-(
Forgot to mention...
The Toshiba laptops rarely, if ever, left the users desks.
Great, more crap drives ahead.
Fantastic, now not only will Toshiba make crap laptop drives, but crap desktop ones too?
I've had more Toshiba laptop drives fail on me in the last 4 years than all other hard drives combined. I have a client that had a bunch of Toshiba laptops, and I was out there changing a drive or two a week...
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