Japans Toshiba Corp. said it is in talks to buy Fujitsu Ltd.s hard-disk drive business, a deal that would create the worlds largest maker of small hard drives and is reportedly worth $340 to $450 million.

Toshiba sees hard-disk drives as a growth business, while Fujitsu has been exploring ways to turn around its loss-making HDD operations and concentrate on its IT consulting business.

Fujitsus talks with U.S. rival Western Digital to sell its HDD business were reported to have fallen through late last year. Fujitsu spokesman Etsuro Yamada said the company was in talks with multiple parties about the future of its HDD operations, including a possible sale or alliances.

Both Toshiba and Fujitsu focus on 2.5-inch drives that are used mainly in laptops, and the combination of their HDD operations would give Toshiba a one-third share in the global market of such devices, putting it ahead of Hitachi Ltd. and Western Digital.

Source: EETimes