Toshiba takes over Fujitsu's hard-disk business

Fujitsu and Toshiba have jointly announced that the latter has now taken over the former's hard disk business. The deal, originally announced in February, involves the formation of a new Toshiba subsidiary company called Toshiba Storage Device Corp.

The new company will initially be owned 80% by Toshiba and 20% by Fujitsu. However, by December 2010, Fujitsu will give up its share, which will mean that Toshiba Storage Device Corp will be a wholly owned Toshiba subsidiary. The delay in getting the deal approved has been down to difficulties with obtaining regulatory approval from the European commission.

Toshiba has said that it wants to grab a bigger chunk of the tricky hard disk market, which will be tough thanks to competition from Seagate, Western Digital and Hitachi. Toshiba aims to grab 20% of the market by March 2016.