In 2016, Western Digital bought SanDisk for $1,900 million. Photo: Western Digital Western Digital is moving away from selling SSDs under its own brand name. This company is one of the largest manufacturers of hard disks. In 2016, after acquiring SanDisk, a manufacturer of NAND memory storage, Western Digital began manufacturing modern SSDs. Now the company will split into two parts. So it is expected that there will be changes in its products.
Recently, Western Digital’s board of directors unanimously decided to split the company’s hard drive and flash drive (SSD/memory card) divisions. This will result in the creation of two independent new companies.
The move is aimed at increasing strategic focus, the company said. Through this, every part of the company will be able to innovate more.
Western Digital CEO David Goeckler says both the company’s hard drive and flash drive businesses are well positioned in the data storage industry market. As a result, individual companies can take strategic steps to pursue their respective market opportunities.
Western Digital Flash Drive is one of the best SSDs on the market. This company sells good products at relatively low prices. But this market is very competitive. Kioxia and SK sell market SSDs under the Hynix brand, and they also supply SSDs to various companies.
Western Digital’s decision to split into two comes as its financial report for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 showed mixed results. Revenue increased by 11 to 14 percent over last year. However, cloud division revenue fell 14 percent.
Although the revenue increased slightly, the overall net income is not very good. Whereas the two consumer and product segments had losses of $685 million and $715 million respectively.
The company plans to split into two in the second half of 2024. Western Digital acquired SanDisk for $1,900 million in 2016 to stay ahead of the competition in the growing SSD market. Today, SSDs are branded with Western Digital, but they are originally manufactured by SanDisk.
The new move will put SanDisk back on track. The SSD will be sold under the SanDisk branding. And Western Digital will only sell hard drives.
Earlier, Western Digital tried to do business on a partnership basis with Singapore-based flash drive manufacturer Kioxia. But ultimately failed. It is believed that this is the main reason why the company decided to split.
