TOKYO, Jan 6: Japanese electronics giant Hitachi said on Monday it has launched a company combining its hard disk drive (HDD) operations with those of US counterpart Internatioal Business Machines (IBM) to boost global competitiveness.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is owned 70 per cent by Hitachi Ltd. and 30 per cent by IBM Corp., but the Japanese firm will take full control of the business — headquartered in San Jose, California — at the end of 2005.

The deal finalizes an agreement reached in June when Hitachi announced it would take over IBM’s HDD business for $2.05 billion.

The new HDD company will bring together some 21,500 employees — about 14,700 from the world’s biggest computer maker and 6,800 from Hitachi — with manufacturing operations at 15 locations globally and sales outlets in 13.—AFP