Seagate acquires SandForce

Seagate has acquired the LSI business units responsible for the SandForce controllers found in many SSDs. Seagate is paying $450 million for the parts and the acquisition should be completed in the third quarter.

Seagate still uses the controllers of Link A Media Devices for its SSDs, which has been owned by SK Hynix since 2012. However, with the acquisition of LSI’s Flash Components branch, the storage media manufacturer gets its hands on SandForce technology. This will “accelerate and expand” Seagate’s roadmap for the SSD market, according to company CEO Steve Luczo.

It is unclear whether Seagate will use the SandForce controllers exclusively for its own products or whether they will continue to be supplied to third parties. The controllers can be found in many SSDs, including those from Intel, OCZ, Corsair, Mushkin and Kingston. In 2011, LSI acquired SandForce and last year LSI itself was acquired by Avago Technologies, which apparently had little interest in the SSD industries. In addition to the Flash Components division, Seagate will also acquire LSI’s Accelerated Solutions division, which is responsible for PCI-e SSDs for the enterprise market.