HMT Begins Volume Shipments of Advanced GMR Media to Maxtor Corporation for its 5.1 GB/Disk, 7200 RPM Drive

Business Wire, March 22, 1999

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 1999--HMT Technology Corp. (Nasdaq:HMTT) today announced that Maxtor(R) Corporation has qualified HMT's 5.1 GB per platter GMR (giant magneto-resistive) media for their new performance oriented desktop drive. The DiamondMax Plus(TM) 5120 hard disk drive, spinning at 7,200 RPM, maintains areal densities exceeding 3.7 gigabits per square inch.

The media HMT is supplying Maxtor for this drive incorporates HMT's new, patented, ultra smooth data zone texture which is instrumental in supporting glide heights of 0.7 microinches and lower. Additionally, the introduction of a new ultra low noise magnetic alloy system has allowed HMT to extend its technology into the GMR drive platform. This product is designed to meet the ever increasing areal densities required by the drive industry.

"HMT Technology is proud to be a part of Maxtor's new 7,200 RPM DiamondMax Plus series of drives which has established Maxtor as the areal density leader in the desktop drive market today," said Ron Schauer, Chairman, President and CEO of HMT. "We have focused on the respective competencies of the 7,200 RPM server media products and transferred these into the high end desktop market. This complements Maxtor's time to market disk drive requirements and allows HMT to continue to broaden our involvement with high-end storage products. We believe HMT's long relationship with Maxtor will continue to allow both companies to meet the ever more challenging demands of this industry," continued Schauer.

"At 5.1 GB/disk, the DiamondMax Plus 5120 sets a new standard for areal density in the industry for 7,200 RPM desktop drives," said Mike Cannon, President and CEO of Maxtor. "Merchant market component suppliers like HMT have been key to our success in reaching this milestone, and we are pleased that HMT was able to meet our qualification schedule on this product, our first GMR drive. Over the past two years, Maxtor has consistently brought products to market and to high-volume production earlier than others in our industry."

The statements in this news release may contain forward-looking statements about HMT that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause HMT's actual results to differ from predicted results. Further information on factors that could affect HMT's results are detailed in HMT's reports on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 1998 and Form 10-Q for the period ended December 31, 1998, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. HMT undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements.

Maxtor Corp. (NASDAQ:MXTR) is a leading supplier of hard disk drives for desktop computer systems. The Company is the fastest growing supplier of hard disk drives for the desktop personal computer market, more than doubling its market share over the past 1 1/2 years. Maxtor has built its leadership position by consistently leading the industry in bringing new products to market, while delivering the highest levels of quality and customer support. The Company's current products include the 5400 RPM DiamondMax(TM) 4320 and DiamondMax 3400 families and the 7200 RPM DiamondMax Plus 2500 and DiamondMax Plus 5120 series of drives. More information about Maxtor and Maxtor products can be found at http://www.maxtor.com and the Company can be reached toll-free at (800) 2-MAXTOR.

HMT Technology Corporation independently designs, develops, manufactures and markets high-performance thin-film disks. The company's products are used in high-capacity hard disk drives for a variety of high-end applications, including personal computers, network servers and workstations, and certain removable hard disk drive applications. The disks currently being shipped by HMT primarily have coercivity levels of 2000 to 3300 Oersted, a measure of storage capacity, and glide heights of 1.2 to 0.7 microinches. The company's shares are traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol HMTT. Additional information may be obtained by visiting HMT's website at http://www.hmtt.com, or by contacting the company directly.