Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) to Build New R&D Facility for Large Capacity HD Media.

Tokyo, Japan, Oct 3, 2005 - (JCN Newswire) - Showa Denko  K.K. (SDK) will build a new R&D facility in Chiba, Japan to promote the development of the next-generation hard disk (HD) media with greater storage capacity. Completion is scheduled for the end of April 2006. The facility will be built at the premises of Showa Denko HD K.K., a subsidiary of SDK for the HD media production and development located at Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture. The total investment, including the building and a clean room, will be \3 billion.

In addition to conventional PC applications, demand for HD media is growing rapidly for such consumer electronics applications as HDD recorders, mobile music players and camcorders. Furthermore, HD media with greater capacity that can record moving pictures and sounds for many hours will be greatly in demand in the near future. This is because digital terrestrial broadcasting for cellular phones will start in April 2006 to provide high-quality pictures and sounds, while there is a plan to transmit TV programs to cellular phones on demand.

In June this year, SDK became the world's first to start commercial shipments of HD media based on the innovative perpendicular magnetic recording technology. The new product has enabled a drastic increase in the media capacity compared with conventional products based on the longitudinal recording technology.

To meet demand for further increases in HD media capacity, SDK will raise the recording density from approximately 100 gigabit per square inch (Gbpsi) at present to 1 terabit per square inch (Tbpsi) by 2010. At 1 Tbpsi, our 0.85-inch HD media-the smallest in the world-will have a capacity as large as 40 gigabytes per disk or more, facilitating the development of new applications. SDK will accelerate the development of technologies for greater-capacity HD media and establish relevant commercial production technologies.

SDK has been actively investing in the HD media business, which is classified as one of its strategic growth businesses. The company is expanding its HD media production capacity from 10.7 million disks a month at present to 13.75 million disks a month, for completion by March 2006. SDK aims to maintain its leading share in the world's rapidly growing HD media market by fully utilizing its highest-level product development capability and production technology.

SDK's HD media production network

Production site                      Location               Product
Showa Denko HD K.K.               Ichihara City, Japan   Glass/aluminum media
Showa Denko HD Singapore Pte. Ltd.   Singapore          Glass/aluminum media
Showa Denko HD Trace Corporation     Taiwan                 Aluminum media

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