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HDD products as intermediate products, particularly local computer
producers.
Effects of the Transaction on Potential Competition
The Board has determined that, in the following years, there may
be some alternative products to HDDs. As a matter of fact, the Board
has identified the Solid State Drive (“SSD”) as a new technology that
can powerfully enter into the market by reason of its superior charac-
teristics such as its rapidity, resistance and battery life in comparison
to HDDs.
In addition to the SSD technology, the Board has also identified
the “cloud computing” technology, which corresponds to the storage of
data in the server of data processing companies in lieu of physical
servers of users as an alternative to the HDDs in the following years.
Finally, the Board has determined that in the following years, the
effects of HDDs in the market will diminish and that SSDs will be an
important alternative to HDDs.
Effects of Foreign Market in the Internal Market
The Board, by taking into account that the parties to the said trans-
action realize their production abroad and sell the products in Turkey
through distributors or intermediates, that the transaction is realized in
a global scale and that unconditional authorization was granted by
eleven competition authorities including USA, EU, South Korea and
Japan, determined that a more competitive market structure will be
established in Turkey subject to the modifications of the market condi-
tions in the world even if the Turkish market is actually different from
other markets.
Conclusion
The Board, as a result of the examination realized, unconditional-
ly authorized the said transaction by determining that, even though the
operation will have certain negative effects on competition, these
effects do not reach an extent which will “significantly lessen compe-
tition”.
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