Hard drive maker Western Digital has struck a deal to buy flash storage vendor SanDisk for $ 19 billion, the companies announced today. Subject to a SanDisk shareholder vote and regulatory approval, the merger is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016.

Western Digital said it is seeking to boost its expertise in non-volatile memory, with SanDish’s NAND flash giving the buyer “long-term access to solid state technology at lower cost.”

Western Digital’s WD brand sells the My Book, My Cloud, and My Passport drives to consumers, while the company’s HGST subsidiary sells to OEMs and other businesses. SanDisk’s flash memory products are sold to consumers, businesses, and device makers. Western Digital pointed out that it and SanDisk have more than 15,000 patents and “complementary product lines, including hard disk drives, solid-state drives, cloud data center storage solutions and flash storage solutions.”