Associated Press
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Union Commission on Monday approved Hitachi Ltd.'s $2.05 billion acquisition of the hard-disk drive unit of U.S. technology giant IBM Corp.
As a result of the transaction, Japan's Hitachi will have a leading position in hard-disk drives for mobile applications, the commission said. However, no antitrust problems emerged since the hard disk business is highly competitive and current manufacturers can easily enter the mobile segment.
Initially, Hitachi will buy only 70 percent of the IBM division, rising to 100 percent over three years. Hitachi says its goal is to become the world's largest hard-disk drive maker.
IBM has in recent years moved away from making computers to include the support and services industries.
