[Chipformation] Western Digital to Cause Major Shift in NAND Industry

Interest in the two companies is rising as it is reported that the merger between Japan's Kioxia and the U.S.'s Western Digital is in the final stages of coordination. If the merger takes place, there is a high possibility that they will surpass Samsung Electronics, which holds the number one market share in NAND. For Western Digital, which ranks fourth in NAND market share, this presents an opportunity to leap to the top in one go.

Western Digital started in 1970 in Irvine, California, U.S., as a semiconductor inspection equipment manufacturer called 'General Digital.' Later, with financial support from the electrical equipment company Emerson, it established itself as a semiconductor manufacturing and storage device specialist. In 1971, it changed its name to Western Digital, relocated to Newport, California, and released its first product, the WD1402A UART. Western Digital is often abbreviated as WD or called 'Wendy.' In Korea, it is sometimes referred to as 'Seobu Jeonja' (Western Electronics).

In the mid-1970s, the company experienced restructuring pains, including filing for bankruptcy protection in court due to poor performance in the electronic calculator business. However, it laid the foundation for a leap forward by entering the HDD (hard disk drive) market in 1998 through technological cooperation with IBM, applying new technologies.

The company is known as a 'master of mergers and acquisitions (M&A)' for its bold acquisition strategies during times of crisis. In the 1980s, it acquired Tandem's hard disk production plant, followed by the acquisition of Hitachi's hard disk division in 2012. In 2015, it acquired the flash memory storage device company SanDisk for $19 billion. Before 2015, it had only produced and supplied HDDs to general consumers, enterprises, and data centers, but the acquisition of SanDisk successfully diversified its business segments.

As a result, Western Digital is one of the world's two major companies in the HDD field alongside Seagate, and it ranks fourth in the NAND sector following Samsung Electronics, Kioxia, and SK Hynix.

If Western Digital merges with Kioxia to form a new corporation, it is expected to bring changes to the NAND industry. In the second quarter of this year, the global NAND market shares were Samsung Electronics (31.1%), Kioxia (19.6%), SK Hynix (17.8%), and Western Digital (14.7%). When simply combined, Western Digital and Kioxia's combined market share is 34.3%, which is higher than Samsung Electronics.

However, it is uncertain whether the merger will pass antitrust reviews in major countries. China, which is competing with the U.S. for dominance in advanced industries, is unlikely to approve the strengthened cooperation between the U.S. and Japan.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.