Pacific Biosciences announced the sale of select short‑read sequencing intellectual property and assets to Illumina for roughly $48.1 million and said it will use proceeds to accelerate development of high‑throughput long‑read platforms. PacBio framed the deal as sharpening its focus on differentiated long‑read chemistry and the rollout of upgraded Sprq‑Nx reagents. Illumina gains short‑read technologies and patents tied to products PacBio paused, while PacBio retains a non‑exclusive license to some purchased IP. The transaction follows a broader industry consolidation around sequencing modalities and highlights strategic bets by vendors on the commercial trajectory of long‑read applications in genomics and diagnostics. Why it matters: The deal reshuffles platform competition in sequencing, with potential downstream effects on assay developers, clinical labs and biotechs that rely on read‑length distinctions for variant detection and complex genomic analysis.