FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AWARDS READ-RITE CORPORATION 

"SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR" HONORS

FREMONT, CA � February 13, 2001 � Read-Rite Corporation today announced that it has been named �Supplier of the Year� by Samsung Electronics for the company�s achievement in delivering time-to-market technology and manufacturing excellence.  Read-Rite was one of six non-Korean suppliers to receive this award and was only one of two companies honored by the Samsung Electronics hard disk drive (HDD) division.

   �Read-Rite�s leading edge technology and time-to-market execution are key components to their success at Samsung,� stated Dr. N.B. Park, president of Samsung�s storage systems division.  He added, �Read-Rite is a key strategic partner for Samsung�s hard disk drive division and we look forward to continuing our joint successes into the future.� 

�Read-Rite is extremely honored to be selected for this distinction by one of the world�s leading electronics companies. The strong joint-development relationship we have developed with Samsung HDD is the key ingredient to this success and has allowed for timely qualifications and volume ramps of our head stack assembly products with Samsung,� stated Alan Lowe, president and chief executive officer of Read-Rite Corporation.  He added that �our establishment of a Korean support operation has also allowed for close cooperation with Samsung�s drive manufacturing facility to jointly improve yields and efficiencies. We look forward to continuing and expanding this successful partnership on future generation products.�

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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