Western Digital is one of the big manufacturers for hard disks, but the company also makes more modern SSDs as well, partially thanks to its purchase of SanDisk in 2016. However, Western Digital is now set to split into two companies, which could mean changes to some of its products.
Western Digital has announced that its board of directors had voted unanimously to separate its hard drive and flash memory (SSDs) businesses, creating two independent, publicly traded companies. According to the company, the move aims to enhance strategic focus, allowing each entity to innovate. David Goeckler, CEO of WD, said that “our HDD and Flash businesses are both well positioned to capitalize on the data storage industry’s significant market dynamics, and as separate companies, each will have the strategic focus and resources to pursue opportunities in their respective markets.”
The separation is planned for the second half of 2024. The flash division of Western Digital is what you might otherwise know as SanDisk, which the company bought in 2016 for $19 billion in order to compete in the growing SSD market. Most of its SSDs use WD branding rather than SanDisk branding, but it’s still SanDisk at its core. As part of this move, SanDisk will effectively revert to its pre-acquisition state, which means that WD’s current lineup of SSDs should still exist with SanDisk branding, while WD will continue selling spinning hard drives only. It will also hopefully mean that SanDisk, the company, will make an attempt to change strategies. At least a few SanDisk drives have had poor quality control lately, with Western Digital often failing to compensate its customers for failed drives and lost files.
Western Digital also attempted, and failed, to merge with Kioxia — this move probably comes as a direct consequence of that, since plans were scrapped just last week. The final separation is not happening for a while, and even when it does, you might still see Western Digital-branded SSDs on store shelves for a few months. So really, if you like WD/SanDisk SSDs, nothing should be changing for you.
Source: Western Digital via The Verge
