A San Jose-based unit of Western Digital Corp. has acquired a maker of solid-state storage systems used in scaling cloud and enterprise data centers.
The value of HGST Inc.’s cash buy of Skyera in San Jose was not disclosed but industry watchers have estimated it in the $400 million range.
Skyera, which has raised more than $90 million in venture capital funding since its launch in 2010, specializes in high-density flash memory storage arrays, essentially the backbone of storage systems that incorporate chips instead of spinning disks to store data.
HGST is a former Hitachi unit. It acquires engineering talent and intellectual property in the strategic acquisition, which builds upon last year’s series of buys of solid-state makers pushed by Irvine-based parent Western Digital.
It paid $340 million for Santa Ana-based sTec Inc. and $685 million for Milpitas-based Virident Systems Inc. and acquired Lincoln, Mass.-based VeloBit Inc. on undisclosed terms.
Western Digital, the world largest disk drive maker in units sold and revenue, is an emerging player in the higher-margin solid-state drive market.
The latest development comes as Western Digital appears closer to regulatory approval from China’s Ministry of Commerce to integrate Hitachi Global there.
The government agency, which has prohibited the integration since its $4.8 billion sale in March 2012, has indicated it is now “fully focused on considering Western Digital’s application to lift the restriction.”
These steps represent significant progress in ultimately bringing Hitachi, its 45,000 employees, and operations around the globe under the Western Digital banner.
Western Digital shares are roughly flat in afternoon trading to a market value of about $24.51 billion.
