Industry sources that have spoken to Fudzilla say that Seagate, who has notoriously struggled in the SSD game, is apparently in acquisition talks with OCZ.
An acquisition of the venerable memory maker by Seagate would allow Seagate to significantly bolster its offerings in the consumer, enthusiast, and enterprise SSD markets. Seagate has yet to make any serious ventures into the SSD markets, with the exception of its hybrid hard disk-SSD drives.
According to Fudzilla’s sources, Seagate isn’t the only firm interested in OCZ: Micron Technology Group apparently also has interest in acquiring OCZ.
Naturally, neither Seagate nor OCZ have commented on this potential deal that could go through as early as next week.
Analysts that have spoken to Reuters believe that such a deal is plausible, and in the best interest of Seagate.
“I’m hearing the same rumors … I can only say that after the last quarter, when OCZ’s cash situation became more challenging, they would be more willing to enter into a deal,” FBN Securities analyst Shebly Seyrafi said to Reuters.
Analyst Gary Mobley from Benchmark Capital agrees with Ms. Seyrafi.
“It is plausible for Seagate or Micron to buy an SSD company,” Mr. Mobley told Reuters. “Seagate has been late to address the flash storage market and needs to hedge its aging HDD business. Micron would benefit from owning OCZ by selling more NAND flash.”
In a note to clients, Lazard Capital Markets’ Edward Parker wrote that he believes such a deal is “plausible” given Seagate’s recent interest in SSD expansion.
OCZ’s stock rose 22% today upon publication of these takeover rumours.