FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MILPITAS, CA -- July 19, 1999 -- Read-Rite Corporation (Nasdaq: RDRT) has appointed Scott J. Dunbar, vice president, US wafer fab operations. Commenting on the appointment, Michael A. Klyszeiko, senior vice president of operations said, "We're delighted Scott is here, his outstanding operational and technical skills will add great value in both leading our wafer fab team and in helping us attain our 1999 Mission of becoming the clear technology leader for the magnetic recording head industry." Dunbar, who brings over 15 years of engineering and operational experience with IBM to his new duties, will be responsible for all of Read-Rite's domestic wafer fab operations.
Immediately prior to joining Read-Rite, Dunbar was manager of IBM's server HGA/HSA manufacturing engineering at sites in North America and Asia. He was responsible for process development and tool selection, world wide yield management, site sourcing, new product launches, and for technical support/management for HGA/HSA subassembly suppliers and contract HSA manufacturers. Some of his other career titles at IBM included manager, San Jose disk manufacturing; manager, half-inch tape manufacturing and engineering; and manager, slider fab process engineering. During his tenure at IBM, he also helped manage the migration from wire to TSA suspension technology, and the introduction of GMR heads.
Dunbar received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1984.
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 .
This news release contains statements which include forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934, as amended, and is subject to the "safe harbor" created by those sections. These statements include, but are not limited to: the company's expectation that shipments will begin in September; and the company's expectation that its renewed relationship with Quantum will continue. The company's actual results for future periods could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to: the company may be unsuccessful in ramping HGA production for Quantum; the company may be unsuccessful in obtaining additional design wins for other Quantum desktop and enterprise programs; and the other factors described in the company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, its Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal 1998 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the first, second and third quarters of Fiscal Year 1999 ended December 27, 1998, March 28, 1999 and June 27, 1999 respectively. Read-Rite undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of such statements.