Toshiba Acquires Panasonic Shikoku Electronics' U.S. HDD Design Center

12 May, 2005


Toshiba Expands Global Development Resources and Engineering Support to Continue Technology Leadership in Small Form Factor Hard Disk Drives

TOKYO and IRVINE, Calif. (May 12, 2005): Toshiba Corporation and Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. (TAIS), the industry pioneers in small form factor hard disk drives (HDDs), have strengthened their global product development capabilities for HDDs and engineering support resources for PC and consumer electronics customers with the acquisition of Panasonic Shikoku Electronics Co. Ltd's HDD design center in Fremont, Calif. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The newly-acquired design center will support HDD development at Toshiba's Ome Operations, Japan. In addition, Toshiba's new facility will provide engineering support to PC and consumer electronics companies, putting critical resources closer to Toshiba customers.

"Toshiba is determined to continue its leadership in small form factor HDDs and to provide customers around the world with excellent engineering resources," said Kazuyoshi Yamamori, vice president of Toshiba's Digital Media Network Company. "Acquisition of the design center will support our continued innovation and product advances."

As part of the deal, approximately 50 engineers have joined TAIS, bringing a rich mix of engineering and problem-solving skills and proven product design capabilities for low-cost, high-quality, high-volume production.

"Acquisition of this design center greatly bolsters our global engineering organization and represents Toshiba's commitment to driving innovation in small form factor hard disk drives," said Scott Maccabe, vice president and general manager, Storage Device Division of TAIS. "We are adding world-class engineering resources to help Toshiba get closer to our customers in the United States, while greatly enhancing our global product development capabilities."

Toshiba continues to push the envelope in small form factor HDD development, with introduction of the world's smallest hard disk drive at 0.85 inches and the first announced products to incorporate perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) on the company's 1.8-inch HDD platform, scheduled to ship in the second quarter of 2005. Toshiba currently leads the 1.8-inch HDD market with more than 14 million units shipped since its launch in 2000. The company also recently surpassed the 80 million units shipped milestone for 2.5-inch HDDs.

"Toshiba's reputation as a technology innovator brings tremendous opportunity to our organization," said Raghu Gururangan, vice president, Storage Design Center of TAIS. "Our team is thrilled to join this world-class operation, and our mission is to help bolster customer satisfaction with Toshiba's industry-leading HDD products."

About Storage Device Division of TAIS

SDD, a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., leads the market in the development, design and manufacturing of optical disk drives and small form factor 0.85-inch, 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch hard disk drives. Toshiba SDD markets high-quality peripherals to original equipment manufacturers, value-added resellers, value-added dealers, systems integrators and distributors in the United States. Inherent in the Toshiba storage family are the high-quality engineering and manufacturing capabilities that have established Toshiba products as worldwide leaders. For more information, visit www.sdd.toshiba.com.

About Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. (TAIS)

Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., TAIS is comprised of three divisions: Digital Products Division, Digital Solutions Division and the Storage Device Division. Together, the three divisions provide mobile products and solutions, Internet access plans, communications, storage and imaging products and services. Products include industry-leading portable computers, projectors, DVD/CD recordable products and hard disk drives for computers, telephony products, digital imaging systems, wireless solutions and services.

TAIS provides sales, marketing and services for its wide range of information products in the United States and Latin America. TAIS is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, which is a world leader in high technology and integrated manufacturing of electrical and electronic components, products and systems. Toshiba has global sales of over $52 billion and more than 300 subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide. For more information, visit the company's website at www.toshiba.com.

About Toshiba Corporation

Toshiba Corporation is a leader in information and communications systems, electronic components, consumer products and power systems. The company's integration of these wide-ranging capabilities assures its position as an innovator in advanced components, products and systems. Toshiba has more than 166,000 employees worldwide and annual sales of US$54 billion (FY2004). For more information, visit http://www.toshiba.co.jp/index.htm

U.S. Media Inquiries:
Lisa Falcetti or Theresa Dreike
GolinHarris
949-428-3871
949-428-3859
lfalcetti@golinharris.com
tdreike@golinharris.com

Worldwide Media Inquiries:
Makoto Yasuda
Corporate Communications Office
Toshiba Corporations
03-3457-2105 (Tokyo)
http://www.toshiba.co.jp/contact/media.htm


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