FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

READ-RITE SHIPPING MR HEADS FOR SAMSUNG'S 4.3 GB PER PLATTER DRIVE

MILPITAS, CA -- December 17, 1998 -- Read-Rite Corporation (NASDAQ: RDRT) today announced it is shipping magnetoresistive (MR) heads for Samsung's SpinPoint 4.3 GB per platter desktop hard disk drive program.

"This represents the fourth consecutive MR program between Samsung and Read-Rite. We are pleased to continue our close working relationship with Samsung on their latest leading edge desktop program", said Alan S. Lowe, president and chief operating officer of Read-Rite Corporation.

"Volume shipments of heads and headstacks on this latest program began last month", he added.

Read-Rite Corporation is one of the world's leading independent manufacturers of MR recording heads, head gimbal assemblies (HGAs) and head stack assemblies (HSAs) for disk drives and magnetoresistive heads for tape drives. The company is headquartered in Milpitas, California and has operations in Japan, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore. The company's home page can be found at www.readrite.com.

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