[ Financial Results for Fiscal 2009 Performance Briefing ]HDD Heads Business

Mr. Atsuo Kobayashi
Corporate Officer
General Manager
Data Storage & Thin Film Technology Components Business Group

I'm Atsuo Kobayashi, General Manager of TDK's HDD heads business.

Business Reinforcement Strategies

I'd like to begin my presentation by discussing our strategies for strengthening our HDD heads business. The first strategy this fiscal year is to create HDD heads that other companies can't easily match by drawing on the competitive edge we have in head technology, particularly in unique designs of PMR heads, and process expertise. Our goal is to capture an even higher share of the HDD head market by supplying next-generation heads showcasing our competitive advantages. The second strategy is to take full advantage of the fact that we can produce suspension assemblies in-house as a vertically integrated head manufacturer. With this ability, I want to build on our leading position in terms of technology and cost through better combinations of heads and suspensions. I believe that a new suspension product-DSA (Dual Stage Actuator)-will be a key product for us this year.

Fiscal 2009 Results and Fiscal 2010 Sales Projections

I'd now like to report on this group's sales for fiscal 2009 and sales projections for fiscal 2010. We recorded sales of \150.1 billion in the first half and \97.1 billion in the second half, for a total of \247.2 billion for the full year. The second half was an extremely difficult period due to inventory adjustments of our customers, HDD makers, started in December 2008. In terms of HDD demand, total demand in fiscal 2009 was just over 510 million units. In fiscal 2010, we expect demand of between 470 million and 480 million units. We are forecasting HGA demand of over 1.4 billion units. Regarding our sales outlook for fiscal 2010, we are projecting full-year sales of \187.3 billion, \87.9 billion in the first half and \99.4 billion in the second half. These forecasts assume an exchange rate of \90 to the U.S. dollar. The full-year forecast represents a 24% year-on-year decline in monetary sales, with 10 percentage points accounted for by forex changes and around 12 percentage points by sales prices. However, due to structural reforms implemented in fiscal 2009, the heads business moved into the black in April this year.

Product Launch Schedule

Now for our schedule for launching new HDD heads. We are mass producing 500GB/P products for 3.5-inch HDDs at present and hope to begin mass producing 640GB/P products toward the end of this year. 2.5-inch HDDs is where the main battleground is though. We have started mass producing 250GB/P products for 2.5-inch HDDs, but we think that 320GB/P products will become our main products this year and we expect customers to launch new products using these heads. I'm confident that we can stamp our mark on the market with our 320GB/P products.

That concludes my presentation.