While we were still questioning when Western Digital will finally enter the SSD market as it can not ignore it, the company just announced the acquisition of Silicon Systems. This company manufactures SSD since years and has a substantial patent portfolio.
While it will cost 65 millions USD, it will give WD the know-how as well as the technology to develop and offer its own SSD models without requiring to license out from Intel or Samsung, or to sale rebranded Intel or Samsung SSD units. Nevertheless, it might take some time for WD to offer its SSD models dedicated to consumer electronics market, as Silicon Digital was specialized in Pro-oriented SSD, a niche market where reliability might be more important than performance.
