Drives shrink to expanded demand

Toshiba is aiming to meet fast increasing demand for its 1.8in hard disk drives by doubling production to 600,000 units a month by March 2004.

Toshiba is aiming to meet fast increasing demand for its 1.8in hard disk drives by doubling production to 600,000 units a month by March 2004.

The innovative drive, a winner since its 2000 launch, delivers high-performance, high-capacity storage in a small form factor that has supported creation of today's new breed of consumer electronics devices and mobile products.

The drive's versatility is reflected in the recent achievement of cumulative production of 3 million units on consistently rising demand.

Toshiba will support increased production by expanding outsourcing, including manufacturing at Matsushita Kotobuki Electronics Industries.

As the storage device of choice for some of the hottest portable gadgets on the market, Toshiba's 1.8in HDD has supported manufacturers in delivering unprecedented functionality to exciting new mobile entertainment products.

Handheld computers, ultraportable notebooks, portable handheld GPS units, MP3 players and automotive MP3 jukebox systems are just a few of the specialised digital devices made possible by the performance of Toshiba's 1.8in HDD.

And that performance, combined with superb advantages in size, weight and low power consumption, assures that Toshiba's 1.8in HDD will continue to be a winner in the market for mobile digital products in this age of ubiquitous computing.

Toshiba estimates show the market for 1.8in HDD rising to 25 million units in 2006.

"Toshiba is the first company to successfully market storage products in the 1.8in category and currently is the only 1.8in supplier shipping in volume today", said Hiroyuki Sato, Senior Manager of Storage Device Division, HDD Sales and Marketing Department of Toshiba's Digital Media Network Company.

"We looked at the trends, listened to our customers, and were convinced that this kind of small but powerful, highly functional drive was the right product for the fusion of computing tools and consumer electronics products".

"We were very happy to pass the milestone of production of three million units.

By further increasing production capacity, we will confirm that our 1.8in drive is capable of driving explosive growth in smaller and more mobile digital devices.

As far as we are concerned, this is only the beginning of a market where we will do all we need to do to grow and advance".

Toshiba's created the 1.8in HDD market in 2000, when it started mass production of a PC-Card-type removable 1.8in HDD with a 2Gbyte capacity.

The company has subsequently rolled out a series of products that consistently push back the borders of capacity and performance: a 1.8in, 5mm height, 5Gbyte embedded HDD in 2001; and a 5mm height 10Gbyte embedded model and 8mm-height 20 and 30Gbyte embedded HDDs in 2002.

Toshiba's latest 1.8in embedded HDD offers a capacity of 40Gbyte with 8mm height and a 20Gbyte capacity with 5mm height.

The 1.8in HDD has been a key element of Toshiba's successful strategy to expand its storage business into non-PC and consumer electronics applications.

Advances in hard drive technology continue to push the limits on area density and speed, and Toshiba has used the power of these diminutive HDDs to transform basic products into compellingly necessary power tools.

Toshiba is also a technology leader in 2.5in HDDs.

Here too demand is growing beyond the core market of portable computers, and the 2.5in HDD is now a key component of car navigation systems.

Toshiba developed and started mass production of a highly reliable, vibration resistant 2.5in HDD for automotive use in 2001, and expects cumulative production of these drives to reach one million units by the end of 2003.

Toshiba's cumulative production for all 2.5in HDDs now stands at 60 million units.

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