Western Digital has obtained approval from EU (European Union) to purchase Hitachi's hard disk drive unit, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, for US$4.3 billion, according to a November 23, 2011 report by Reuters. Western Digital is required to sell its production operations for 3.5-inch disc drives and transfer or license intellectual property rights to the unit to be sold. It is reported that Western Digital has to find a buyer for the unit before completing the deal with Hitachi.