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GLASS MEMORY DISKS FOR HARD DISK DRIVES
Fiscal 2009 Business Overview and Results
Hoya produces glass memory disks used as recording media for
hard disk drives (HDDs) and the glass substrates used to produce
them. The Company mainly manufactures 2.5 inch disks, which are
incorporated into HDDs and used in notebook computers. Hoya’s
substrates boast top market share, demonstrating competitiveness
in all the major aspects of quality, cost, and production capacity.
Along with the growing needs for larger HDD memory capacity,
there has been a demand for higher precision and zero defect
features for substrates and higher storage capacities for glass
memory disks. Hoya avails itself of technology capabilities built up
over the years to continue to meet the demands of the market.
In the fiscal year under review, there was strong demand for
Hoya’s products as consumers began to replace their desktop com-
puters with notebook computers. In addition, growth in sales of
Internet books and other compact, low-price personal computers
also drove up demand for HDDs. At the end of the third quarter,
cumulative unit sales of substrates and glass memory disks had
expanded year on year. In contrast, the sudden drop in demand in
the fourth quarter due to the production cut backs and the related
downward pressure on prices as well as the impact of exchange
rate fluctuations resulted in unit sales and sales for the full year
declining compared with the previous fiscal year.
During the fiscal year under review, Hoya completed develop-
ment of a new product that uses high precision polishing of the
surface of the substrate to enable greater storage capacity. In
conjunction with this development, the Company augmented its
state-of-the-art mass production line at its Vietnam plant.
In September 2008, Hoya concluded a basic agreement with
Showa Denko K.K. on merging the two companies’ HDD recording
media-related businesses. After the agreement, the two companies
continued to make progress with discussions, but terminated nego-
tiations in March 2009 because of the sudden deterioration in eco-
nomic conditions and changes in the business environment.
Future Strategies
Unit sales volume in the HDD market is anticipated to continue to
grow, particularly for use in notebook computers. The market will
also likely continue to demand that Hoya and other component
manufacturers make further progress with greater storage capaci-
ties and lower costs.
Through next-generation R&D programs and production tech-
nology development, Hoya will concentrate on proposing new
products, boosting quality, and achieving cost reductions. The
Company will take steps to establish an organization that can
ensure low-cost and stable supplies of substrates. It will further
expand its substrate production facilities, taking demand into con-
sideration in its timing, and prepare those facilities for the shift to
next-generation products. Hoya also intends to increase the value-
added content of its glass memory disks based on next-generation
technology that utilizes discrete tracking and other technologies.
Substrates (transparent disks)
and glass memory disks
Substrates are transparent, highly
polished glass plates that can be
coated with magnetic recording film
to produce glass memory disks.
Hoya ensures quality right from the
materials stage, choosing the
optimum melting, molding, and
polishing methods. The resulting
products feature high shock resis-
tance produced through the use of
special strengthening technologies.
Discrete tracking technology
By making grooves of non-
magnetic material between
recording tracks, this technology
reduces the incidence of noise
between neighboring tracks,
thereby permitting increases in
data recording density.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
14 HOYA Annual Report 2009