TOKYO--The announcement of HP, a prominent leader in the IT industry, to support HD DVD and to join the HD DVD Promotion Group is significant and welcome news. The HD DVD Promotion Group comprises over 100 multi-national leaders in the IT, CE and entertainment industries with a common objective of promoting the HD DVD format and expediting commercialization of HD DVD products.

With cost, quality and time to market issues as key advantages of HD DVD, we believe HP will see clear long-term advantages to the format. We expect that today's announcement will add to the increasing momentum in the IT industry toward HD DVD, in addition to the existing support among the CE and film industries.