Western Digital is planning to split its SSD memory and hard drive operations into two new businesses

pcgamer.com:

Hot off the news that the long-running plan to merge with Kioxia has ground to a halt yet again, Western Digital's board of directors has approved a plan to split the company up. Its NAND flash and hard drive divisions will become entirely independent public companies, pending final board approval and other regulations.

Western Digital, or just WD as a brand name, has been around in the world of technology for 53 years and these days it's best known for its self-titled SSDs and HDDs, as well as SanDisk mobile storage. In the NAND flash world, it's the fourth largest supplier of such chips, behind Samsung, Kioxia (formerly Toshiba Memory Corporation), and SK Hynix.

To make SSDs and tiny flash cards, Western Digital uses manufacturing plants owned by Kioxia, and the two have worked hand-in-hand developing new technologies for a number of years. Muddying the picture, though, is the fact that one of WD's closest competitors, SK Hynix, has invested in Kioxia and enjoys a reasonable return on that cash injection.

So when I read about Western Digital's plan to become two separate firms, one that just does flash stuff, and the other dealing with HDDs, I instantly got a headache trying to figure out what this will all mean for the various companies and brands. Will the new SSD branch then merge with Kioxia? Whether it does or not, what will happen to the WD and SanDisk brand names? Would another company then buy out the new HDD company?

Western Digital's flash drives are some of the best SSDs you can get right now, as they offer tons of performance and storage, for a relatively low price. The market is very competitive, though, and both Kioxia and SK Hynix also have their own SSDs, as well as selling the chips to other firms. For