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The rumour comes courtesy of EETimes, which claims Seagate is mulling a bid for either the company as a whole, or just its solid state disk unit.

Seagate undoubtedly has an interest in flash technology. As the world's largest supplier of hard drives, it no doubt sees solid state disks as a potential threat to its dominance, though there's no indication that traditional hard drives are about to give up the ghost any time soon.

However, the acquisition of Sandisk would also give Seagate a foothold in the memory card and MP3 player business, allowing it to expand beyond its traditional markets.

Neither company are commenting on the rumours, though Seagate has also been linked with a deal for flash company Stec.