T&A: Bill Gates has formed a partnership with Toshiba in a bid to research, develop and produce compact nuclear reactors called a travelling-wave reactor, this according to reports from various sources, including Forbes, FoxNews and Reuters.

With Gates funding a company called TerraPower, the firm will work with Toshiba to it provides a cheaper, safer and alternative solution to clean energy as opposed to typical fission nuclear reactors. While the news has gotten many energy experts and journalists excited, according to some sources, the process will take between 5-10 years before we’ll even be able to see a working commercialized unit. Let’s hope the prototype comes out sooner then.

Meanwhile, here’s Gates talking up clean energy for the planet during his speech at TED in February earlier this year.

CORP TALK: Japan’s Toshiba Corporation will be entering the Blu-ray Disc market, after more than a year of abandoning the HD-DVD format market. According to an AFP report here, the company will be launching Blu-ray products as soon as this year, encouraged by the rapid growth and demand for the format in Japan.

Navin Danapal, Technical Editor, HWM Malaysia

Navin (HWM MY): If this doesn’t seal the next-gen DVD war then nothing else will. Toshiba was the biggest advocate for the rival HD-DVD format going against Sony’s Blu-ray Disc (BD) format in the past few years.

Over time we began to see Sony’s BD standard taking up the storm while Toshiba’s HD-DVD began to wither in support.

However, to see Toshiba themselves entering their rival’s market is ultimately the nail-in-the-coffin for the HD-DVD format, as there were some rumours that the Japanese are not known to take kindly to defeat, and that Toshiba won’t back down from their HD-DVD war. Now with this entry, it’s clear the days of HD-DVD is over for good. (more…)

CORP TALK: Toshiba Corporation and Fujitsu Limited reached an agreement to transfer Fujitsu’s hard disk drive (HDD) business to Toshiba with the aim to complete the transaction in the fiscal first quarter of 2009. Toshiba will acquire an estimated 80% stake in a new subsidiary within Toshiba, while Fujitsu will hold the remaining 20% over some time to ensure a smooth transition.

With the transfer of Fujitsu's HDD business into its fold, Toshiba's goal to become a leading storage provider in the 2.5-inch space will be further boosted after it announced a half-terabyte (512GB) 2.5-inch SSD hard drive in December 2008.

According to the MOU, Fujitsu will transfer its HDD design, development, manufacturing, sales and all other functions to Toshiba, except Fujitsu’s HDD head and media businesses. The transfer also includes HDD manufacturing subsidiaries in the Philippines (FCPP) and Thailand (FTC), and HDD sales and marketing offices outside Japan.

David Chieng, Editor, HWM Singapore

David (HWM SG): Hard disk drives are notoriously low margin businesses from the retailer point of view; and even more so when it comes to the manufacturer, especially since we’re seeing the total cost of storage dropping like a rock year on year. This is great for the end user, but not so good for the manufacturer, making competition extremely intense. After all, Seagate bought up Maxtor not too long ago, leaving the desktop hard disk drive market dominated by Seagate and Western Digital. (more…)