Japanese Showa Denko KK (SDK) has started commercial production of perpendicular magnetic recording technology-based hard disk (HD) media, enabling a dramatic increase in media recording density. Compared with the conventional technology, which stores magnetic data on a horizontal plane of the HD media, the latest technology from SDK enables vertical magnetic recording. This enables a dramatic increase in recording density, at a time when the conventional technology is said to be reaching its limits with raising recording density.

SDK has started commercial production of 1.89-inch-diameter media for use in mobile music players, with the capacity of 40 Gbytes per disk -- double the capacity of conventional products of the same size. While SDK earlier announced that it will increase its HD media production capacity by 3.05 million disks per month, to 13.75 million disks per month, by March 2006, all of the new production lines will be able to use the perpendicular magnetic recording technology.

SDK has also started commercial production of the world's smallest 0.85-inch diameter HD media. Very-small-diameter HD media, including the 0.85-inch type, will soon be installed in cell phones to enable the handling of music and TV programs transmitted via the Internet. Thus, demand for very-small-diameter HD media is expected to grow at an annual rate of 30%.