History 2005: Toshiba Buys Panasonic HDD Center

Matsushita/Panasonic was for several years one of the major manufacturers of HDDs. This was at the time Quantum subcontracted all its manufacturing to MKE (which became Panasonic Shikoku Electronics or PSE, Matsushita’s subsidiary.

But, since Maxtor’s acquisition of Quantum’s HDD division in 2000, the company has gradually take on its own disk drive assembly. In 2003, MKE signed an agreement to manufacture Toshiba’s 1.8-inch units in Batam, Indonesia.

PSE, less and less active in the sector, has thus decided to sell its HDD design center in Fremont, CA to Toshiba for an undisclosed sum. The company includes some 50 engineers who will thus join Toshiba America Information Systems and support Toshiba’s Orne Operations in Japan.

This article is an abstract of news published on issue 209 on June 2005 from the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter.