Consolidation is the name of the game in the computer component market nowadays, with SanDisk and Western Digital being the latest companies to combine into a single, much larger company. Earlier today, Western Digital announced that it’ll be acquiring SanDisk for somewhere around $19 billion in a merger that’s been heavily reported on over the last few days. This acquisition will give Western Digital a significant chunk of the flash storage market, which has experienced some rapid growth recently thanks to demand for SSDs.
Western Digital Corp. on Wednesday said it would acquire memory chipmaker SanDisk Corp for about $19 billion. It’s the latest merger in a large wave of consolidation among semiconductor chipmakers. Under the offer, Western Digital agreed to pay the chipmaker $86.50 a share in a combination of cash and stock, based on a five-day volume weighted average price of $79.60, ending in Oct. 20. Shares of SanDisk rose 4.6 percent to $78.69 in pre-market trading, following the announcement. Western Digital shares fell 3.82 percent to $72.00. The move comes as Western Digital looks to grab a piece of the rapidly growing flash storage market, fueled by demand for solid-state hard drives (SSDs) within enterprise data centers, desktop PCs and smartphone storage chips. “This transformational acquisition aligns with our long-term strategy to be an innovative leader in the storage industry by providing compelling, high-quality products with leading technology,” Western Digital CEO Steve Milligan, said in a press statement. “The combined company will be ideally positioned to capture the growth opportunities created by the rapidly evolving storage industry.”
