FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

READ-RITE CORPORATION BEGINS VOLUME SHIPMENTS OF THE LATEST RECORDING HEAD TECHNOLOGY FOR WESTERN DIGITAL'S 30 GB PER PLATTER HARD DISK DRIVE

FREMONT, CA - January 23,  2001 -- Read-Rite Corporation (Nasdaq: RDRT)  today announced that they have begun volume shipments for Western Digital's 30 GB per platter next-generation WD CaviarT product. "This marks another high point for Read-Rite in our execution of the product technology. We are extremely pleased that our technology leadership has extended from the 20GB per platter to the 30GB per platter," said Jim Murphy, senior vice president of customer programs. John Coyne, Western Digital's senior vice president of worldwide operations added, "Read-Rite has proven their execution ability on the 20 GB platform, and we are proud to be using their new technology in our drives." The company noted the wafers, which are the most advanced technology available in the market place to date, are being manufactured at its Fremont, California facility and shipped in the form of head gimbal assemblies (HGAs) manufactured out of its ISO 9002 and 14001 qualified production facility in Thailand.

Read-Rite Corporation is one of the world's leading independent manufacturers of magnetic recording heads, head gimbal assemblies (HGAs) and head stack assemblies (HSAs) for disk drives and tape drives.  The company is headquartered in Fremont, California and has operations in California, Thailand, Philippines, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.  The company's website is located at http://www.readrite.com.  Read-Rite is also the majority shareholder of Scion Photonics, Inc. which designs, develops, manufactures and sells optical communication components.  Scion's website is located at http://www.scionphotonics.com.

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