Fujitsu may quit hard drive market

Fujitsu may be looking to offload its hard disk operation

Japanese computing giant Fujitsu is reportedly looking to sell off its hard drive business to rival storage vendor Western Digital.

Reports from Japanese news agency Nikkei suggest that the value of the deal could run as high as $945m (£535m).

Reuters backed up the reports, citing an unnamed company official. Fujitsu, however, has denied the reports.

Fujitsu holds a strong position in the 2.5in notebook drive market, but is reportedly losing money on its hard drive business as a whole. The company's share of the overall hard drive market is thought to be just six per cent.

If successful, the deal would help Western Digital gain on current market leader Seagate in an increasingly consolidated hard drive market.

Last year, Seagate made a major acquisition of its own when the company agreed to acquire Maxtor for $1.9bn (£1bn).