Continuing what has by now almost become a tradition ahead of major technology acquisitions, insiders yesterday leaked advanced word that SanDisk Corp. is close to clinching an agreement to be bought out by one of its top rivals. The news is reportedly slated to go official shortly after its earnings call tomorrow.

The flash memory maker is expected to report little in the way of revenue or profit growth due to intensifying competition that has been dragging down its top line for over six quarters. It’s the symptom of a broader squeeze that has already made 2015 the biggest year for mergers in the history of the semiconductor industry, a record that SanDisk’s forthcoming acquisition by Western Digital Corp. is set to cement.

Rumors of the deal have been swirling since late August when the storage giant was listed as one of two suitors that have expressed interest in merging. The anonymous tipsters who leaked the negotiations this week named Micron Inc. as the other party to the press, which means that Western Digital has likely been the preferred bidder from the outset.

While both vendors would stand to gain a lot from an acquisition in their own respective ways, the latter doesn’t compete as directly with Toshiba Corp., which has the final say on any deal since SanDisk uses its founders to manufacture chips. And to further complicate the situation, the two have an expansive intellectual property sharing agreement on top of that which could benefit a rival like Micron enormously.

The relationship also rules out other competitors like Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd that been floated as potential suitors, giving Western Digital a particularly strong negotiating position. But the company is seemingly nonetheless willing to pay top dollar for SanDisk, with the insiders valuing the deal at between $80 and $90 per share.

That’s a substantial premium over the flash maker’s trading price prior to the revelation of the talks that could put the deal north of $18 million at the top end. Western Digital plans to finance the deal with the help of the $3.8 billion investment it secured from China’s Tsinghua University last month, which in retrospect was earmarked for SanDisk.

The move leaves little doubt about management’s commitment to the transaction, making it highly likely that the agreement will be signed in the foreseeable future, if not this week then not long thereafter. And so one of the oldest players in the semiconductor industry is about open a new chapter after over 40 years as an independent company.

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