Western Digital acquisition of Hitachi blocked by EU antitrust

Western Digital disclosed today that the European Union has already raised anti-monopoly questions about its acquisition of Hitachi’s storage business, and progress has been hindered.

In a submission to the regulatory agency, Western Digital stated that through this opposition statement, the European Commission has initiated a preliminary assessment of the merger and its potential impact on market competition, but Western Digital did not disclose the specific details of the EU statement.

In May of this year, the European Commission started separate investigations into the acquisition of Hitachi’s hard drive business by Western Digital and Samsung’s acquisition of Samsung’s hard disk business. However, Seagate’s claim today has been released by the European regulatory authorities and will not be hindered by Western Digital.

If these two acquisitions are completed, the number of first-tier manufacturers in the hard disk market will be reduced from five to three, of which Western Digital accounts for half of the 50%, Seagate's share is about 40%, and the other 10% belong to Toshiba.

Joaquin Almunia, the European Union’s antitrust executive, said at the beginning of the investigation that the hard disk industry “has undergone a substantial merger, and the acquisitions proposed by Western Digital and Seagate will further weaken competition”.