The hard disk drive (HDD) is tough at the moment. Even the biggest players like Seagate and Western Digital are cutting costs and shedding staff.
Now the number six seller, Fujitsu, has agreed to sell its loss-making HDD business to rival (and number five seller) Toshiba, according to The Register.
But what exactly will Toshiba be buying? Evidently the read/write head manufacturing isn’t part of the deal, and Fujitsu has said its HDD head manufacturing operation at Nagano, Japan will go back to just making printed circuit boards for servers and telecoms kit. None of the Fujitsu employees working on HDD will lose their jobs.
There’s also speculation that Fujitsu’s Japanese HDD plant won’t be part of any purchase, and that the company’s Thailand plant could close, although the one in the Phillipines will remain open.
No purchase price has been given, although speculation is that it’s between $350-450 million, and it’s not yet certain exactly when – or even if – the sale will go through.
