Western Digital And IBM Announce Patent Acquisition And Cross-License Agreements

IRVINE, Calif., and ARMONK, N.Y., Jan. 25, 2016 -- Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) today announced that it has acquired more than 100 patent assets from IBM (NYSE: IBM). The parties also entered into a patent cross-license agreement. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Patents acquired by Western Digital are in distributed storage, object storage, and emerging non-volatile memory. Western Digital expects the IP to further strengthen its technology leadership position and drive value creation for the company and its customers. The patents will augment Western Digital's existing portfolio of more than 10,000 patents and patent applications.

"This agreement reflects our continued focus on innovation and sets the stage for even more rapid advancement and commercialization of new data storage solutions," said Mike Cordano, president and chief operating officer, Western Digital. "We are building on Western Digital and IBM's long-standing relationship and look forward to future collaborations and business opportunities."

"This agreement with Western Digital illustrates the value of patented IBM inventions and demonstrates our leadership in licensing access to our broad patent portfolio. We look forward to a productive relationship with Western Digital," said William LaFontaine, general manager, intellectual property for IBM.

IBM has led the annual list of U.S. patent recipients for 23 consecutive years. More information about IBM's patent leadership is available at: http://ibm.co/1hLSj8W.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is an industry-leading developer and manufacturer of storage solutions that enable people to create, leverage, experience and preserve data. The company addresses ever-changing market needs by providing a full portfolio of compelling, high-quality storage solutions with effective technology deployment, high efficiency, flexibility and speed. Our products are marketed under the HGST and WD brands to OEMs, distributors, resellers, cloud infrastructure providers and consumers. For more information, please visit www.hgst.com and www.wd.com.