Fujitsu and Toshiba finalise HDD deal

Toshiba is hoping to boost its position in the enterprise market via Fujitsu's HDD business

Fujitsu has revealed details of a deal in which the firm will relinquish its hard disk drive (HDD) business to Toshiba.

The agreement is described as a consolidation of the two firms' businesses, but it is Toshiba that could benefit the most. The company said that the deal would reinforce its already strong position in the market, and grant it access to enterprise customers where Fujitsu is a clear leader.

"Toshiba aims to build its position in the enterprise market to meet expected growth in demand for data storage systems," the company said, claiming that the deal will also help raise its share in the overall HDD market to over 20 per cent by 2015.

A key element of the plan concerns Fujitsu's enterprise HDD solutions, which Toshiba will "fuse" with its own Nand Flash memory technology. "This move is expected to spur expansion of the rapidly expanding solid state drive market," the company said.

Fujitsu intends to transfer the business to Toshiba as soon as possible, with a view to completing the transaction early this year. Fujitsu will keep 20 per cent of the business in the interim, which will be transferred to Toshiba at some time in the future.

As part of the move, Fujitsu will transfer HDD development, manufacturing and sales teams, as well as its manufacturing facilities and some other areas of the business including sales and marketing, to Toshiba.