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Fujitsu to seek No. 1 position in enterprise and mobile hard drive market segments

Fujitsu Australia Limited

Sydney, August 03, 2001

Fujitsu Limited, one of the world's leading IT&T companies and a major global supplier of hard drives and computer peripherals, this week announced a new strategic focus for its hard disk drive (HDD) products group that includes a concerted push for market leadership in the fast-growing enterprise and mobile HDD markets. This will result in a phased withdrawal from the 3.5" IDE desktop drive segment, including both 5400 and 7200 rpm products.

The new focus will capitalise on the exploding demand for enterprise (SCSI) storage devices for servers, growth in 2.5" storage devices for the mobile computing segment, and emerging markets for these smaller hard drives in consumer-oriented household appliances, audio-visual products and other non-PC applications. To accommodate the new push, Fujitsu will shift development, manufacturing and sales resources away from the 3.5" IDE desktop drive market which recorded negative growth in the first half of 2001.

Fujitsu Australia's Executive Director, Telecommunications and Technology, Mr John Kranenburg said: "This re-focusing of global resources will accelerate Fujitsu's rate of market share growth and bring forward our timetable to emerge as the market leader in the fastest growing hard drive segments."

Mr Kranenburg commented: "In Australia, and around the world, the desktop hard drive market has reached saturation point and, as a consequence, volumes have declined and margins have plummeted. This is a proactive and deliberate move by Fujitsu to increase its emphasis on the market segments that offer the greatest potential in the broadband and Internet era."

According to leading analysts, IDC, the global market for enterprise-class hard disk drives will approach US$7 billion by 2005. Additionally, IDC forecasts that the market for mobile-class hard disk drives is expected to grow from US$3.2 billion in 1999 to nearly US$7 billion in 2005, with much of this growth occurring as smaller 2.5" hard drives become widely adopted in desktop PCs and emerging applications.

Fujitsu will continue its strategy of vertical integration, and will continue the production and development of heads, media and other key hard drive components, leveraging its investment and expertise in these areas.

Fujitsu will immediately cease development of new 3.5" desktop hard drives but will, however, in the short term, continue the production and sales of its current products to meet customer demand. Fujitsu anticipates that production of current desktop hard drive products will end later this year.

About Fujitsu Australia Limited

Fujitsu is one of the world's leading e-services organisations. Fujitsu technology solutions, from servers to e-Business applications, are powering the new Internet economy. In Australia and New Zealand Fujitsu is helping corporate and government customers to design, build and operate solutions which offer competitive advantage in the Internet world, from state-of-the-art infrastructure through to complex e-Business solutions. Our portfolio of IT services includes consulting, systems integration, prime contracting and a full range of professional services. Fujitsu Australia Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited of Japan.
For more information, please see: www.fujitsu.com.au

About Fujitsu Limited

Fujitsu is a leading provider of Internet-focused information technology solutions for the global marketplace. Its pace-setting technologies, best-in-class computing and telecommunications platforms, and worldwide corps of systems and services experts make it uniquely positioned to unleash the infinite possibilities of the Internet to help its customers succeed. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 5.48 trillion yen for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2001.
For more information, please see: www.fujitsu.com

Gillian Lamrock

Phone: Phone: (02) 9776 4799
E-mail: E-mail: gillian.lamrock@fujitsu.com.au
Company:Fujitsu Australia Limited

Shuna Boyd

Phone: Phone: (02) 9418 8100
E-mail: E-mail: shuna@boydpr.com.au
Company:BoydPR

Date: 03 August, 2001
City: Sydney
Company: Fujitsu Australia Limited