Toshiba-Fujitsu Gives Storage Rivals an In

Toshiba is looking to boost its enterprise storage story by grabbing Fujitsu's hard disk drive business, a move which could have a major impact on other tech component suppliers.

The Japanese electronics giants announced the deal early Tuesday, although neither firm specified the value of the transaction, which finally seals the future of Fujitsu's hard disk-drive business.

Fujitsu had been in talks with Western Digital(WDC Quote) over a possible sale, although the discussions recently ended in a stalemate with the two firms reportedly unable to agree on a deal.

Toshiba will now control an 80% stake in a newly formed Fujitsu hard drive company and acquire the remaining 20% at some point in the future.

By shrinking the number of companies supplying hard drives for mobile devices, the deal could prove particularly beneficial to Fujitsu rivals Seagate(STX Quote) and Western Digital, according to Jayson Noland, an analyst at Robert W. Baird.

"The acquisition reduces mobile hard disk-drive supplier from six to five, which should reduce industry capacity and improve pricing behavior," he wrote in a note released Tuesday. Seagate and Western Digital, in particular, will reap the benefits of this consolidation, he wrote.

Shares of Seagate, which has recently been feeling the effects of a tough economy rose 3 cents, or 0.57%, to $4.39 in early trading Tuesday, despite the Nasdaq slipping 3.71%.

Western Digital's shares, however, reflected the broader decline in tech stocks and fell 94 cents, or 5.64%, to $15.74.

Other companies playing in the mobile hard disk-drive space include IBM(IBM Quote) and Hitachi(HIT Quote), which recently made a bewildering array of management changes after posting a massive third-quarter loss.