NTN Starts Thai Production of Fluid Dynamic Bearings for 1-inch HDDs(pic)

NTN Corporation (NTN) has begun production of "sintered metal" fluid dynamic bearings -- FDBs, product name: BEARPHITE® used in the industry's smallest 1-inch hard disc drives (HDD) motor at its wholly owned subsidiary, NTN Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (NMT). BEARPHITE® is built into FDB units, which were developed jointly by NTN and Nidec Corporation (Nidec). The plant is preparating to volume-produce plastic housings with thrust hydrodynamic grooves. NTN's FDBs achieve high running accuracy and extremely low noise as a result of hydrodynamic pressure effects. They guarantee long service life due to their anti-seize features and feature excellent manufacturability made possible by NTN's proprietary technologies. NTN received a large order from Nidec for 1-inch HDD spindle motors, for which demand is growing in the expanding digital consumer electronics market. With the rapid growth in demand forecast for cellular phones, music players, car navigation systems, and other products incorporating compact HDDs, NTN is also in the preparatory stages for volume production of FDB models for use with 0.85-inch and 1.8-inch HDDs. It plans to produce 6 million small-diameter HDD components per month in fiscal 2006. NTN is supplying Nidec with FDBs for use with 3.5-inch HDDs which are produced at NMT's existing plant and then are built into FDB units at NTN-Nidec (Zheijang) Corporation, a joint venture with Nidec in China. It anticipates demand of 8 million units per month in fiscal 2006. By the end of this fiscal year, NMT's dedicated plant in Thailand will be in a position to volume-produce components for HDDs ranging from 0.85-inches, the smallest in the world, to 3.5-inch HDDs, the most widely shipped size currently produced. This strength is based on Nidec's dominant share of the HDD spindle motor market and NTN's proprietary technologies. Capacity will expand to 14 million units per month in fiscal 2006. New Plant Overview (1) Location : Eastern Seaboard Industrial Park, Rayong Province, Thailand. (2) Site area : Approximately 70,000 square meters (3) Building area : Approximately 13,000 square meters (4) Investment : About 3.5 billion yen (land, building, equipment) (5) Start of production : September 2004