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Company Reinforces Its Commitment to Environmental Protection by Complying More Than a Year Ahead of EU Requirement

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today announced that all Hitachi hard drive products introduced in 2005 and beyond will meet the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive recently issued by the European Union (EU). The RoHS directive restricts the use of certain hazardous substances from electrical and electronics products sold in Europe beginning July 2006. Hitachi will have RoHS compliant products available across its entire product line more than a year ahead of the 2006 requirement.

Lead and Chromium VI, both of which are used in the manufacture of hard disk drives, are among the six hazardous substances identified in the RoHS directive. Hitachi has already begun designing products in compliance with the RoHS requirements by utilizing more environmentally sensitive components. Hitachi GST also plans to comply with the obligation required by EU's WEEE (Waste, Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directive by initiating a global product recycling program during Q3 2005. WEEE aims to recover the resources from discarded electrical and electronics equipment and establish a more sustainable environment.

"Hitachi is an environmentally responsible company and we are pleased to be reporting such an aggressive timeline for compliance with the RoHS and WEEE initiatives," said Bill Healy, senior vice president of strategy and marketing, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. "Hitachi hard drives are, once again, leading the industry and exceeding customer requirements."

Hitachi introduced several RoHS compliant 1.8 and 2.5-inch Travelstar drives in 2004. Additional information regarding Hitachi's RoHS-compliant hard drives can be found at http://www.hitachigst.com/environment.