Furukawa Electric Launches HDD Glass Substrate Production

Furukawa Electric announced on Thursday the firm started commercial production of glass substrate for hard disc drive in May. The firm establishes monthly 1 million units of capacity at Chiba plant expanding to 20 million units including offshore production in fiscal 2013 ending March 2014 for 10 billion yen. The firm targets 25-30% world market share by utilizing the technology for material and processing.

The firm makes the substrate by polishing round glass with 0.8 millimeters thick made by the original high accuracy material process while the competitors make the substrate by polishing and grinding glass with 1 mm thick. Furukawa Electric can reduce surface defects through the process without grinding. The process needs no chemical strengthening process, which is needed for the competitors’ process.

Furukawa Electric uses higher heat resistance glass than traditional material. Pont of transition temperature for the glass is around 600 degrees Celsius compared with 400-500 degrees for traditional amorphous material. With the high performance material, the substrate can be used for next generation methods including patterned media and thermal assist recording.

The firm produces substrate with 2.5 inches of diameter and 0.8 and 0.635 mm thick. The firm also establishes production base in Southeast Asia to serve users in the area. The firm eyes sales of the material without polishing and higher supply ability through joint venture with other companies.

The firm makes monthly around 30 million units of aluminium substrate for hard disc drive and has around 50% of world share in the market. The firm is only maker to make both aluminium and glass substrates.

The firm also develops the high accuracy glass market for other areas including liquid crystal panel cover and glass substrate for organic light emitting display. The firm targets annual 50 billion yen of sales for the glass and glass substrate in 3 years compared with 10 billion yen for current aluminium substrate.