Late last year, Western Digital resumed merger talks with solid-state memory maker Kioxia. According to the existing plan, the companies can merge and maintain their presence on the stock market in a new status. Both memory makers have long been involved in the joint production of 3D NAND chips, and therefore from time to time they think about a complete merger of assets.

Last time, rumors attributed them to active negotiations in 2021, and then the deal was estimated at $ 20 billion. At the same time, Kioxia also thought about a public offering of shares, although in October last year, the company's management denied such rumors. The share price of Western Digital Corporation on this news on Wednesday rose by 5.2%, increasing the capitalization of the company's business to $ 10.5 billion. After the close of trading, quotes rose by another 8%.

The resumption of negotiations between the two companies may indicate the crisis in the industry, which forced the partners to forget about the previous contradictions that prevented the deal from being completed earlier. Since the beginning of last year, Western Digital shares have fallen in price by 51% due to the crisis in the memory market. Having gained relative independence from Toshiba in 2018, Kioxia remains the only manufacturer of advanced memory chips in Japan. One of the motives for the merger may be the desire to more effectively counter the South Korean giant Samsung Electronics, which remains the market leader.