Seagate Technology will buy LSI’s flash storage business from Avago Technologies for US$450 million in cash.

The deal will expand Seagate’s offerings and future capabilities in the fast-growing flash storage business. The assets include LSI’s Accelerated Solutions Division (ASD), which makes enterprise-class products with PCIe interfaces, and the Flash Components Division (FCD), known for the popular SandForce line of controllers for high-volume flash components. Seagate expects the transaction to close in the third quarter of this year.

Earlier this month, Singapore-based Avago closed a $6.6 billion buyout of LSI, which makes wired and wireless network components as well as storage technologies.

Seagate is a major supplier of spinning hard disk drives, and flash is playing a growing role in both consumer and enterprise storage. Established vendors and startups alike are introducing all-flash and hybrid arrays built with SSDs (solid-state drives) as well as server-based flash products that use PCIe. Speed, size and power consumption are the major drivers of the shift.

Controllers, like LSI’s SandForce line, play a key role in achieving more performance and reliability in flash components.