SDK to increase HDD production with alliance

Showa Denko K.K. and Trace Storage Technology Corp. have agreed to form an alliance in the 80GB HDD business. According to the terms of the agreement, SDK will provide its proprietary technology to Trace for the manufacture of 3.5-inch, 80GB aluminum-substrate HDD media. Under a separate agreement, SDK will be entitled to purchase hard disks manufactured by Trace using the said technology on a preferential basis.

Further, Showa Denko HD Singapore Pte Ltd (SHDS), SDK's subsidiary in Singapore, is expanding its production capacity by one million disks a month. The new production line is expected to begin operations this year. After the expansion in Singapore, SDK's total hard disk media production capacity as of December 2003 is expected to reach 6.3 million disks a month. On top of this, the alliance with Trace will enable SDK to increase its supply capacity by up to 2 million disks a month.