Vaio to snap up Toshiba and Fujitsu's PC units - report

Three-way merger to happen by the end of March, Bloomberg reports

A Japanese PC giant could be created by the end of next month as Vaio, the PC arm spun out of Sony, looks to merge with the PC units of Toshiba and Fujitsu.

Bloomberg reports that the trio are looking to complete a merger by the end of March, with Vaio - which split from Sony in 2014 - set to be the largest stakeholder.

Hidemi Moue, CEO of Japan Industrial Partners - which controls Vaio - confirmed the news to Bloomberg and said the three-way merger would help them save on R&D and scale production.

The PC market has had a tumultuous few years - in 2014 it was buoyed by the end of life of Windows XP, which encouraged upgrades - but then once that effect wore off, it began to suffer again.

At the end of last month, Gartner said that by the end of this year, PC shipments will reach 287 million units, down one per cent on last year. It said the market might improve when customers end their testing periods for Windows 10.

Last summer, CRN reported that the accounting scandal in which Toshiba is currently embroiled might prompt a PC market exit.