Rumor: Toshiba looking to acquire OCZ's consumer solid state drive division

Shawn Knight

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Toshiba is reportedly taking a serious look at purchasing OCZ Technology’s consumer storage division to further their own solid state drive ambitions. The deal could be a win-win for both parties as Toshiba would have access to OCZ’s controller technology and patents while OCZ may get a reliable supplier for 19nm NAND flash.

OCZ entered the memory market in 2002 and was a pioneer in the solid state drive industry in more recent years. The company discontinued their RAM production in early 2011 to focus almost exclusively on solid state drives. They did a lot for consumers by undercutting the competition but this was also part of their undoing as they created a low margin market.

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The company fell on hard times last year after it was rumored that acquisition talks with Seagate fell through. OCZ founder and CEO Ryan Peterson resigned shortly after and a month later, board member Ralph Schmitt took over the helm. Schmitt announced plans to slash workforce by nearly 30 percent and discontinued some 150 product variations.

A recent report from the Motley Fool suggested the only valuable IP that OCZ has is the SATA SSD controller from Indilinx but with LSI and Marvell offering great alternatives at a fairly low cost, it’s tough to see a lot of value.

In our most recent OCZ SSD review, the Vertex 450 proved to be a worthy successor to the Vertex 4 as it offered better performance, reliability and pricing. The drive even edged out the Vector in some instances.

OCZ declined to comment on the rumor.

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I hope it goes thru. Toshiba has some resources OCZ needs. OCZ can really get a nice edge now.
 
Have to agree. Toshiba ain't exactly a leader in aftermarket accessories and OCZ's memory chips have always been their weak point. Seems to make a lotta sense so long as warranties are still honored and the like. A high-end Satellite with OCZ drive tech might be something worth seeing (esp. if it had a serious GPU option).
 
I've lost a lot of money on OCZ stock :p here's hoping the buyout will restore some of it...
 
ANYTHING to get more frequent firmware upgrades out of OCZ.

ANYTHING!
 
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