FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

READ-RITE RAMPS PRODUCTION OF GMR HEADS FOR WESTERN DIGITAL'S CAVIAR 7200 RPM 10.2 GB PER PLATTER DRIVE
MILPITAS, CA - March 7, 2000 -- Read-Rite Corporation (Nasdaq: RDRT) today announced it has received volume production orders for Western Digital's 10.2 GB per platter 7200 rpm Caviar drive. Read-Rite is currently ramping production of GMR heads for shipment this month. The Caviar drive ranges in capacity from 10.2 GB to 20.5 GB, offers an Ultra ATA/66 interface, low seek times, and up to 66.6 MB/s data transfer rates.

"We are extremely pleased to be participating on our first 7200 rpm GMR program with Western Digital," said Alan S. Lowe president and chief operating officer. "Our participation on this key program, which is based on Western Digital's own advanced GMR drive design, confirms our position as a full-line supplier of GMR heads for Western Digital," he added.

 

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 Milpitas, California and has operations in Japan, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore. The company�s home page on the world wide web can be reached at http://www.readrite.com.

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