Samsung Sold its Hard Drive Business to Seagate for $1.4 Billion

#1

Post by ask995 » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 6:34 AM UTC

Samsung Sold its Hard Drive Business to Seagate for $1.4 Billion
bits.blogs.nytimes.com

Re: Samsung Sold its Hard Drive Business to Seagate for $1.4 Billion

#2

Post by ars » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 7:06 AM UTC

And then there were 4[1]. And soon to be 3[2]. And one of those doesn't make many drives[3].

So we have a duopoly in hard disks. I'm quite surprised regulators allowed this deal.

[1] Seagate, WD, Hitachi, Toshiba

[2] WD is buying Hitachi

[3] Toshiba doesn't make many drives, and only makes 2.5 inch and smaller.

Re: Samsung Sold its Hard Drive Business to Seagate for $1.4 Billion

#3

Post by wmf » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 7:09 AM UTC

So it's now Seagate, Western Digital, and Toshiba. Signs that innovation has moved elsewhere, perhaps.

Re: Samsung Sold its Hard Drive Business to Seagate for $1.4 Billion

#4

Post by protomyth » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 7:18 AM UTC

As of late, Seagate drives have been pretty crappy, which is a real shame given their former glory. Maybe this purchase will change something.

Re: Samsung Sold its Hard Drive Business to Seagate for $1.4 Billion

#5

Post by vondur » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 7:18 AM UTC

I'm surprised that they sold the SSD business. I'm guessing that's primarily what Segate was after.

Re: Samsung Sold its Hard Drive Business to Seagate for $1.4 Billion

#6

Post by nextparadigms » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 7:18 AM UTC

ars wrote: post #2

And then there were 4[1]. And soon to be 3[2]. And one of those doesn't make many drives[3]. So we have a duopoly in hard disks. I'm quite surprised regulators allowed this deal. [1] Seagate, WD, Hitachi, Toshiba [2] WD is buying Hitachi [3] Toshiba doesn't make many drives, and only makes 2.5 inch and smaller.

Are they all from the same country? Either way, the PC industry and the related component industry is fading away, so Samsung did the right move here. They probably want to focus more on the mobile markets.

Re: Samsung Sold its Hard Drive Business to Seagate for $1.4 Billion

#7

Post by prodikl » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 7:34 AM UTC

With samsung the world leader in ram I would have thought they could've done some great things in ssd field. Bummer.

Re: Samsung Sold its Hard Drive Business to Seagate for $1.4 Billion

#8

Post by j45 » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 7:35 AM UTC

Glad the sale wasn't the other way.

I remember when Seagate first bought Maxtor.

Re: Samsung Sold its Hard Drive Business to Seagate for $1.4 Billion

#9

Post by __alexs » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 7:49 AM UTC

nextparadigms wrote: post #6

ars wrote: post #2

And then there were 4[1]. And soon to be 3[2]. And one of those doesn't make many drives[3]. So we have a duopoly in hard disks. I'm quite surprised regulators allowed this deal. [1] Seagate, WD, Hitachi, Toshiba [2] WD is buying Hitachi [3] Toshiba doesn't make many drives, and only makes 2.5 inch and smaller.

Are they all from the same country? Either way, the PC industry and the related component industry is fading away, so Samsung did the right move here. They probably want to focus more on the mobile markets.

(According to Wikipedia...) Seagate and WD are both have their HQs in California but Seagate is incorporated in Ireland. They also have a wafer fab in Northern Ireland.

Re: Samsung Sold its Hard Drive Business to Seagate for $1.4 Billion

#10

Post by wmf » Wed, Dec 21, 2011, 7:52 AM UTC

prodikl wrote: post #7

With samsung the world leader in ram I would have thought they could've done some great things in ssd field. Bummer.

As the largest flash vendor, Samsung may win no matter which controllers are used. Seagate has no consumer SSDs so I can understand why they want to buy that business from Samsung.