Confirming earlier rumors, Fujitsu has announced that it is set to transfer its struggling hard disk drive business to rival Toshiba after the two firms agree on a price. The deal currently exists as a memorandum of understanding, which requires Fujitsu to spin off its HDD business into a new firm that will be 80 percent owned by Toshiba and run as its subsidiary.
Fujitsu will hold the remaining 20 percent stake for an unspecified length of time after which the new company will become a wholly-owned unit of Toshiba. This will almost double Toshiba's market share in the hard drive market to about 14 percent, rivaling Hitachi as the industry's third-largest producer, and give it entry into the enterprise HDD market where it currently has no presence. Conversely, the sale allows Fujitsu to shed a business that has been unprofitable since 2007 to focus on providing computer services.