Fujitsu looks to offload HDD arm

Speculation grows that Japanese vendor is discussing a possible deal with rival Western Digital

Vendor Fujitsu is reportedly looking to offload its hard disk drive (HDD) business, with rival Western Digital leading the race to snap it up.

Rumours concerning a possible deal first surfaced earlier this year but ultimately the speculation came to nothing. But the Wall Street Journal reports today that Fujitsu is still keen to sell the loss-making business.

The HDD market is led by Seagate, with Western Digital in second, pursued by Hitachi, Toshiba and Samsung. Fujitsu sits in sixth place with a market share of about 6.6 per cent and annual revenue of about £2.1bn.

The Japanese vendor manufactures a range of 2.5in mobile drives and also 3.5in enterprise drives. The latter would give Western Digital a foothold in the enterprise hard drive space where it currently lacks an offering.

Fujitsu recently agreed to buy out partner Siemens' share of joint venture Fujitsu Siemens Computers and selling its HDD arm would help finance the cost of the deal. Fujitsu chief financial officer Kazuhiko Kato told the Wall Street Journal: "If we keep it as it is, losses from (the HDD) business will grow."

A Fujitsu spokesperson from Japan added: "Certain businesses are under review. The hard drive business unit is one of these. We are in discussion with certain parties and no decisions have been made."