Dive Brief:
- Western Digital announced it will buy SanDisk Corp, Reuters reported.
- The company said the move will help it expand its flash memory storage chip business.
- SanDisk’s chips are used in smartphones and mobile devices.
Dive Insight:
Analysts say Western Digital needs access to SanDisk's NAND technology to better compete in the solid-state drive (SSD) market. SSDs are used in cloud computing, data centers, smartphones and laptops.
"We have been thinking about the opportunity to vertically integrate in terms of NAND," Western Digital's Chief Executive Steve Milligan said.
The investment is expected to draw scrutiny from both U.S. and Chinese regulators.
There have been a record number of deals in the semiconductor industry this year. According to Dealogic, chip companies have announced $100.6 billion in mergers and acquisitions so far in 2015. Earlier this week, semiconductor equipment maker Lam Research agreed to buy rival KLA-Tencor Corp for about $10.6 billion.
