Competition watchdog greenlights SanDisk, Western Digital merger

Global competition is unlikely to significantly lessen.

Western Digital’s proposed acquisition of SanDisk Corporation has been greenlighted by the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS).

According to the announcement by CCS, the acquisition is unlikely to lead to a significant lessening of competition within the market for the global supply of interface-specific enterprise solid state drives (SSDs) to customers worldwide.

CCS has decided that the only area of overlap between SanDisk and Western Digital, both globally and in the country, is in the supply of enterprise SSDs.

In clearing the transaction, CCS also learned that firstly, there remains many credible competitors to the merged entity such as Samsung, Intel, and Toshiba after the transaction. CCS also discovered that entry barriers are relatively low as entry is not regulated and prospective entrants need not be in Singapore. Lastly, the competition watchdog learned that the customers can easily switch to alternative suppliers without significant switching costs, and some customers are able to procure components to develop their own enterprise SSDs or sponsor new entrants.