HGST

HGST, Inc.

Type	Subsidiary of Western Digital
Industry	Computer storage devices
Predecessor	Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
Founded	2003
Headquarters	San Jose, California, United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Mike Cordano (President)
Products	Hard disk drives solid-state drives external storage devices
Number of employees	45,000
Parent	Western Digital (2012–present)
Website	www.hgst.com

HGST, Inc. (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Digital that sells hard disk drives, solid-state drives, and external storage products and services.^[1]

History

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies was founded on January 6, 2003 as a merger of the hard disk drive businesses of IBM and Hitachi.^[2] Hitachi paid IBM US$2.05 billion for its HDD business.^[3][4]

On March 8, 2012, Western Digital (WD) acquired Hitachi Global Storage Technologies for $3.9 billion in cash and 25 million shares of WD common stock valued at approximately $0.9 billion. The deal resulted in Hitachi, Ltd. owning approximately 10 percent of WD shares outstanding, and reserving the right to designate two individuals to the board of directors of WD. It was agreed that WD would operate with WD Technologies and HGST as wholly owned subsidiaries and they would compete in the marketplace with separate brands and product lines.^[5][6][7]

In May 2012, WD divested to Toshiba assets that enabled Toshiba to manufacture and sell 3.5-inch hard drives for the desktop and consumer electronics markets to address the requirements of regulatory agencies.^[8][9]

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Japan, Ltd. is the Japanese branch of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Inc.

In November 2013, the company announced a 6 TB capacity drive filled with helium.^[10] In September 2014, the company announced a 10 TB helium drive, which uses shingled magnetic recording to improve density.^[11]

On October 19, 2015, Western Digital Corporation announced a decision from China's Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM") which enabled the company to integrate substantial portions of its HGST and WD subsidiaries under Western Digital Corporation ("Western Digital"), but they must offer both HGST and WD product brands in the market and maintain separate sales teams for two years from the date of the decision.^[12][13][14] As such, as of October 19, 2015, HGST is a Western Digital brand, and no longer a separate entity.

Products

Hard drives and solid-state drives

Ultrastar HUA723020ALA640

• Ultrastar – Enterprise-class line of 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch HDDs with SCSI, Fibre Channel, SAS, and SATA interfaces; and a line of 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch Fibre Channel and SAS SSDs.
• Deskstar – Desktop-class line in 3.5-inch form factor with SATA interfaces.
• Travelstar – Mobile-class line in 2.5-inch form factor with SATA interfaces.
• Endurastar – Ruggedized line in 2.5-inch form factor with SATA interfaces, primarily for automotive applications.
• Cinemastar – 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch form factors, optimized for consumer electronics applications requiring quiet operation and streaming support.

External storage

• LifeStudio products, announced in 2010 but now discontinued, were external hard drives that combine photo organization software, a 3D Wall for displaying content, a connected USB Flash key.^[15]
• G-Technology external storage products, acquired in 2009,^[16] are sold to Apple Macintosh communities, including users of multimedia content such as Final Cut Pro digital audio/video production professionals.
• Touro family of cloud storage backup products.

See also

• Hitachi-LG Data Storage (HLDS) – joint venture of Hitachi and LG; manufacturer of DVD and Blu-ray drives.
• Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) – manufacturer of modular enterprise storage systems, software and services.

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-11-23. Retrieved 2012-01-15.
2. "Hitachi Establishes "Hitachi Global Storage Technologies," Taking A Bold New Step for Storage Innovation" (Press release). Hitachi. January 6, 2003.
3. Hitachi buys IBM disk drive business, June 6, 2002 Archived March 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
4. "Hitachi and IBM Complete Hard Disk Drive Agreement" (Press release). IBM. December 31, 2002.
5. "Hitachi Completes Transfer of Hard Disk Drive Business to Western Digital" (Press release). Hitachi Canada. March 9, 2012.
6. "WD Completes Acquisition of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies - Creates the Industry's Deepest Technology Capability and Broadest Product Portfolio" (Press release). Western Digital. March 8, 2012.
7. Byford, Sam (March 9, 2012). "Western Digital completes $4.8b Hitachi GST buyout, becomes world's largest HDD manufacturer". The Verge.
8. "WD Reaches Agreement with Toshiba Corporation to Divest Certain 3.5-Inch HDD Assets" (Press release). Western Digital. February 28, 2012.
9. "WD Completes Divestiture of Assets to Toshiba Corporation" (Press release). Western Digital. May 15, 2012.
10. Mellor, Chris (November 4, 2013). "Helium-Filled disks lift off: You can't keep these 6TB beasts down". The Register. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
11. Gasior, Geoff (September 9, 2013). "Shingled platters breathe helium inside HGST's 10TB hard drive". The Tech Report. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
12. "Western Digital Corporation Announces Decision from China's Ministry Of Commerce Enabling Integration Of Substantial Portions Of HGST And WD Subsidiaries" (Press release). Western Digital. October 19, 2015.
13. Paul Alcorn (2015-10-19). "MOFCOM Approves HGST, WD Integration, With Two Year Hold Separate Clause". Tomsitpro.com. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
14. "China finally says yes to WD-HGST union". Theregister.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
15. Dong Ngo (July 7, 2010). "Hitachi unveils LifeStudio storage solutions". CNet news blog. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
16. "Hitachi GST Completes Acquisition of Fabrik, Inc. — Company Sets Stage for Continued Global Expansion" (PDF). News release. April 6, 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 20, 2010. Retrieved June 25, 2013.

External links

• Official website
• 日立グローバルストレージテクノロジーズ (Japanese)
• "Hitachi Establishes 'Hitachi Global Storage Technologies,' Taking a Bold New Step for Storage Innovation" (Hitachi, Ltd. press release)