SanDisk 2007 Annual Report Download - page 55

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• our intellectual property ownership, in particular our patent claims and MLC manufacturing know-how,
provides us certain cost advantages;
• our flash ventures with Toshiba provide us with a favorable cost structure;
• we market and sell a broader range of card formats than any of our competitors, which gives us an advantage
in obtaining strong retail and OEM distribution;
• we have global retail distribution of our products through over 222,000 worldwide retail storefronts; and
• we have worldwide leading market share in removable flash cards and USB flash drives.
Semiconductor Manufacturers. Our primary semiconductor competitors currently include Hynix, IM Flash
Technologies LLC, or IM Flash (a company formed by Micron and Intel), Micron, Samsung, STMicroelectronics
N.V., or STMicro, and Toshiba.
Flash Memory Card and USB Drive Manufacturers. Our primary card and USB drive competitors currently
include, among others, A-Data Technology Co., Ltd., or A-Data, Buffalo Technology, Inc., or Buffalo, Chips and
More GmbH, or CN Memory, Dane-Elec Memory, or Dane-Elec, Elecom Co., Ltd., or Elecom, FUJIFILM
Corporation, or FUJI, Hagiwara Sys-Com Co., Ltd., or Hagiwara, Hama Corporation, Inc., or Hama, Imation
Corporation, or Imation, and its division Memorex Products, Inc., or Memorex, I/O Data Device, Inc., or I/O Data,
Kingmax, Inc., or KingMax, Kingston Technology Company, Inc., or Kingston, Eastman Kodak Company, or
Kodak, Lexar Media, Inc., or Lexar, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. which owns the Panasonic brands, or
Panasonic, Netac Technology Co., or Netac, PNY Technologies, Inc., or PNY, RITEK Corporation, or RITEK,
Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Tradebrands International, or Tradebrands, Transcend Information, Inc., or Transcend,
and Verbatim Corporation, or Verbatim.
Digital Audio/Video Player Manufacturers. Our digital audio/video players face strong competition from
products offered by other companies, including Apple Inc., or Apple, ARCHOS Technology, or ARCHOS, Creative
Technologies, Ltd., or Creative, Microsoft Corporation, or Microsoft, Samsung and Sony.
Other Technologies. Other technologies compete with our product offerings and many companies are
attempting to develop memory cells that use different designs and materials in order to reduce memory costs. These
potential competitive technologies include phase-change technology, charge-trap flash and millipedes/probes.
Employees
As of December 30, 2007, we had 3,172 full-time employees, including 1,255 in research and development,
506 in sales and marketing, 470 in general and administration, and 941 in operations. None of our employees are
represented by a collective bargaining agreement and we have never experienced any work stoppage. We believe
that our employee relations are satisfactory.
Executive Officers
Our executive officers, who are elected by and serve at the discretion of our board of directors, are as follows
(all ages are as of February 15, 2008):
Name Age Position
Eli Harari ....................... 62 Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Sanjay Mehrotra .................. 49 President and Chief Operating Officer
Judy Bruner. . . ................... 49 Executive Vice President, Administration and Chief
Financial Officer
Randhir Thakur ................... 45 Executive Vice President, Technology and
Worldwide Operations
Yoram Cedar . . ................... 55 Executive Vice President, Mobile Business Unit and
Corporate Engineering
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