Western Digital has announced to takeover Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) for about $4.3 billion. The complete transaction will be split in cash and stock with cash taking $3.5 billion and $750 million by way of shares. The acquisition has been approved by board of directors of each company and is expected to complete the deal by Q3 2011.

With the takeover, WD expects to create a customer-focused storage company with large operating scale and superior product lineup.

“The acquisition of Hitachi GST is a unique opportunity for WD to create further value for our customers, stockholders, employees, suppliers and the communities in which we operate,” said John Coyne, president and chief executive officer of WD. “We believe this step will result in several key benefits¾enhanced R&D capabilities, innovation and expansion of a rich product portfolio, comprehensive market coverage and scale that will enhance our cost structure and ability to compete in a dynamic marketplace. The skills and contributions of both workforces were key considerations in assessing this compelling opportunity. We will be relying on the proven integration capabilities of both companies to assure the ongoing satisfaction of our customers and to bring this combination to successful fruition.”

SanDisk has started shipping its 1GB WORM SD Card. WORM means write-once-ready-many and Japan police is SanDisk’s one of the major customers who’ll buy the card for tamper proof forensic image archiving.

SanDisk says most forensic images are stored on a 35mm film that degrades over time but WORM SD cards on the other hand, provide easy and a convenient alternative to prevent any alteration or deletion of data once its stored on the card.

WORM SD cards can be currently ordered in bulk, for which the price will vary according to the quantity.

Press Release

SanDisk recently announced the 16GB microSDHC and M2 cards. These boast the world’s largest capacity tag in its class and in fact SanDisk is the first one to produce a M2 card with such capacity. The cards will start retailing from next month at Best Buy outlets for $100 (microSDHC) and $130 (M2).

Press Release

[Via Gadgetell]