History 2002: Fujitsu Replaces Defective Desktop HDDs

Fujitsu was obliged to recall and replace desktop HDDs WW, used by its OEMs Compaq, Fujitsu Siemens, Hitachi, IBM, NEC and others in their PCs, following the discovery of an outsourced defective chip, which could affect more than 300,000 units made over a year ago.

The process will probably cost the firm nearly ¥10 billion, according to the Japanese periodical Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

Last year, the company quit the desktop HOD business to concentrate only on notebook and enterprise drives.

For its 1Q period ended June 30, 2002, HDD sales reached ¥43.7 billion, a figure that is 32% down compared to the same period in 2001, according to Fujitsu’s financial report. Current projections are for ¥190 billion for the fiscal year, or -20% compared to the preceding fiscal year, with output of 10 million drives, compared to 14 million a year earlier.

Meanwhile, in a WW first, Fujitsu demonstrated a 2.5-inch HDD, supporting the new serial ATA interface, at the Intel Developer Forum Fall 2002. Samples are already available to strategic partners.

This article is an abstract of news published on issue 176 on September 2002 from the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter.