Samsung looking to sell hard drive business?

Samsung is reportedly looking to selling off its hard disk division, according to the Wall Street Journal, which claims to have spoken to a source familiar with the matter.

The site's source claims that Seagate is a potential buyer of the division, and that Samsung is looking to sell its apparently loss-making hard drive business for $1.5 billion, although it will consider a deal under $1 billion.

If this happens, the move would see the world's number of hard disk manufacturers reduced to just three. Western Digital has recently acquired Hitachi Global Storage and Fujitsu, meaning the only other independent hard drive manufacturer is now Toshiba.

Despite strong sales of hard drives in both the 3.5in and 2.5in formats, the scale of Samsung's hard disk manufacturing capabilities are too small in comparison to its rivals, which could explain why this division of the company is making a loss.

What are the potential ramifications of the sale of Samsung's hard disk division? Is the future of storage all about SSDs? Let us know in the forums.