Company Achieves 520 Gb/in2 Areal Density in Demonstration; Result of
Ongoing Technology Investments
TOKYO and FREMONT, Calif., Oct. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Western
Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) today announced that it has achieved 520 Gb/in2
areal density -- the hard drive industry's highest demonstrated density to
date using continuous media. The company revealed the milestone this week
at the Perpendicular Magnetic Recording Conference in Tokyo after an
earlier demonstration in California .
Following WD's growing investments in technology the past five years,
the company achieved 520 Gb/in2 using its own perpendicular magnetic
recording (PMR)/tunneling magneto-resistive (TuMR) head technology. This
level of density produces a 3.5-inch hard drive storing 640 GB-per-platter
and single hard drive capacities as large as 3 TB. Based on the industry's
current density growth rate of more than 40 percent per year, those
capacities are expected to be available in the 2010 timeframe.
Current industry-leading hard drive densities shipping in high volume
are about 200 Gb/in2, as featured in WD's 250 GB WD Scorpio(R) 2.5-inch
drive for notebooks and mobile applications, which began shipping in May
2007.
"WD was the first hard drive manufacturer to ship in volume the 250 GB
capacity point in the 2.5-inch form factor," said Hossein Moghadam, chief
technology officer for WD. "Our technology investments position WD with our
customers as a leading choice for the highest, cutting-edge capacities. Our
top priority will be to remain keenly focused on providing the highest
quality and reliability, which customers have come to expect from WD after
years of relying on our products."
WD demonstrated 520 Gb/in2 density in its Magnetic Head Operation labs
in Fremont, Calif., earlier this month. Moghadam added, "The milestone was
realized using our current-technology MgO reader, illustrating the
extendibility of PMR-TuMR head technology generations into the future."
About WD
WD, one of the storage industry's pioneers and long-time leaders,
provides products and services for people and organizations that collect,
manage and use digital information. The company produces reliable,
high-performance hard drives that keep users' data accessible and secure
from loss. WD applies its storage expertise to consumer products for
external, portable and shared storage applications.
WD was founded in 1970. The company's storage products are marketed to
leading systems manufacturers, selected resellers and retailers under the
Western Digital and WD brand names. Visit the Investor section of the
company's Web site (http://www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of
financial and investor information.
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including
statements relating to density growth rates, dates certain capacities are
expected to be available based on those growth rates and the extendibility
of PMR-TuMR head technology generations into the future. These
forward-looking statements are based on current management expectations,
and actual results may differ materially as a result of several factors,
including: technical and manufacturing challenges related to changes in
areal density; changes in technology; business conditions generally; and
other risks and uncertainties listed in WD's recent SEC filings, including
its form 10-K for fiscal 2007. WD undertakes no obligation to update these
forward-looking statements to reflect new information or events or for any
other reason.
Western Digital, WD and the WD logo are registered trademarks of
Western Digital Technologies, Inc. All other trademarks herein are property
of their respective owner. One gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes. Total
accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000711/WDCLOGO)
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