TRADITIONAL hard disk maker Western Digital has acquired SanDisk, a leading NAND Flash storage solution provider for US$19 billion, a move set to accelerate SSD penetration.
The acquisition is set to complete before the end of the third quarter of 2016, and is considered the largest of such deals in the Flash storage industry during recent years.
According to TrendForce researchers, demand for SSD products has shot up in the past two years. The share of the SSD application in the total NAND Flash demand worldwide is projected to expand from 30 percent in 2015 to 35 percent in 2016, becoming the most rapidly growing and highly contested end market for this memory technology.
Consequently, semiconductor and digital companies have been quick to form alliances and conduct mergers in order to strengthen their positions in the SSD market.
The acquisition of SanDisk is not the first such move for WD: for the past three years, the company has been targeting developers of NAND Flash memory technologies for acquisition.
While the rise of the SSD market has accelerated the development of related storage equipment, WD has to date failed to significantly break into the core SSD market. The acquisition of SanDisk, a major player in the SSD sector, will allow it to dominate the SSD market.
SanDisk has wafer and memory module fabs, so it has been a major supplier of NAND Flash memory as well as a branded vendor of related products. Additionally, SanDisk has the most advanced IP and cpaacity to produce NAND Flash memory, since it has previously kept expanding its production capacity and technology portfolio with its own acquisitions.
According to TrendForce, once the integration of both companies is complete, they will become the most wide-ranging, comprehensive storage solution provider in the industry. The new WD will lead in both HDD and SSD technologies as well as having a competitive advantage in NAND Flash production.
WD will continue the joint venture that SanDisk has with Toshiba, and there is no indication that WD will introduce significant changes to the original strategic partnership that has lasted for 15 years. On the other hand, the newly integrated WD will step up efforts to develop 3D-NAND and other more advanced non-volatile memory (NVM) technologies.