Toshiba's Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced the Canvio Desk Desktop External Hard Drive and the Solid State Drive (SSD) PC Upgrade Kit, both available now on Toshiba Direct starting at $119.99 MSRP and $109.99 MSRP, respectively.

"With personal storage becoming increasingly prevalent, the need for varying solutions grows and we're proud to introduce new devices that help round out our already robust line-up," said Maciek Brzeski, vice president of product marketing and development, Branded Storage Products, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. "Our new desktop drive and SSD Upgrade Kit are providing our users with the high level of power and performance they've come to expect from Toshiba storage solutions."

Toshiba Corporation today announced the launch of a family of advanced 3.5-inch HDDs that bring multi-terabyte capacities to the consumer space. Four series of high-performance models offer a total of 12 variants: four models offering 3 TB capacities, complemented by models offering 2 TB and 1.5 TB levels of storage. Volume shipments of the drives, produced with manufacturing equipment acquired in a recent transaction with Western Digital Corporation of the United States, will start at the end of this month. In adding these drives to its current line of 250 GB to 1 TB consumer-use 3.5-inch HDDs Toshiba will expand its product coverage to a wide ranging 250 GB to 3 TB.

The high capacity storage devices that add to the performance of today's digital devices, among them desktop PCs, external hard drives, digital video drives and TVs with an integrated recording function, must match advances in HD image quality and the proliferation of TV channels and other digital sources with density advances that can meet increasingly heavy demands on capacity. Toshiba is making this possible with a new product line-up that includes 3.5-inch drives with a full 3 TB capacity.

Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO:6502) today announced an adjustment to production of NAND flash memory at its Yokkaichi Operation plant in Mie Prefecture, Japan, that will cut Toshiba's production by approximately 30%, effective from today.

Oversupply of NAND flash memory in the retail market, for application in USB memories and memory cards, has resulted in continual price declines since the beginning of this year. Toshiba has responded by adjusting shipments to the retail market since June and from today will reduce the operating rate at the plant in order to adjust output. This move will help to reduce inventory in the market and improve the overall balance between supply and demand.

AMD (NYSE:AMD) today announced revenue for the second quarter of 2012 of $1.41 billion, net income of $37 million, or $0.05 per share, and operating income of $77 million. The company reported non-GAAP net income of $46 million, or $0.06 per share, and non-GAAP operating income of $86 million.

"Overall weakness in the global economy, softer consumer spending and lower channel demand for our desktop processors in China and Europe made the closing weeks of the quarter challenging," said Rory Read, AMD president and CEO. "We are taking definitive steps to improve our performance and correct the issues within our control as we expect headwinds will continue in the third quarter as the industry sets a new baseline. We remain optimistic about our core businesses as well as future opportunities with our competitively differentiated next-generation Accelerated Processor Units (APUs). Our recently launched Trinity APU continues to gain traction with customers. We are committed to driving profitable growth."

Fence-sitters in the massive LCD panel price-fixing case, LG, AUOptronics, and Toshiba, finally agreed to pay their share of fines to settle. The three combined will pay US $571 million in fines, according to an attorney for the plaintiffs. The amount includes US $27.5 million in civil penalties for eight state governments (Arkansas, California, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New York, West Virginia and Wisconsin).

In late-December 2011, the first set of fines were collected from LCD panel majors Samsung, Sharp, Hitachi, HannStar, and Chimei Innolux; who cumulatively paid US $553 million in the price-fixing case, as LG, AUO, and Toshiba abstained. AUOptronics was faced with the prospect of having to pay fines as high as US $1 billion. The case involves alleged price-fixing and cartel behavior by LCD panel makers in the period between 1996 and 2006, which stunted LCD panel development, and overpriced products to the consumers, by stifling competition.

Toshiba's Storage Products Business Unit, a division of Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., and a committed technology leader, today announced the AL13SE series of 2.5-inch 6Gb/s SAS interface hard disk drives (HDDs), which offer enterprise-class performance in capacities ranging from 900GB to 300GB.

The AL13SE is the first 10,000 RPM class model enterprise drive from Toshiba to achieve 900GB capacity and is also the first of Toshiba's 10,000 RPM drives to employ a dual-stage head positioning actuator that provides additional performance gains, including a 32% increase in sustained transfer rate.

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP and Pearson, Simon, Warshaw & Penny, LLP today announced that a federal court jury this morning found that Toshiba Corporation and its subsidiaries conspired with the world's other leading manufacturers of Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Displays ("TFT-LCDs") to raise and fix the prices of TFT-LCD panels and certain products. The jury awarded damages of $87 million. Federal antitrust law requires the trebling of these damages, resulting in a $261 million award against Toshiba.

Richard M. Heimann, co-lead counsel for plaintiffs, stated, "We are very pleased the jury found in favor of the plaintiffs and found that Toshiba violated the law, particularly in light of the government's decision not to criminally prosecute Toshiba for its misconduct. The case demonstrates once again the critical role our civil justice system plays in holding corporations, no matter how powerful or where they are based in the world, accountable for violating U.S. antitrust laws."

Toshiba Corporation (Toshiba) and its subsidiary, Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC), announced today that a jury in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (San Francisco) has issued a verdict against Toshiba in the amount of US$87 million due to alleged antitrust practices in the LCD business. Given credits for settlements by other defendants, Toshiba expects that it will not have to pay any damages as a result of this verdict, even after trebling under U.S. antitrust laws.
This class action was filed in 2007 by direct purchasers of LCD panels and related products in the United States.

Toshiba has consistently maintained that there was no illegal activity on its part in the LCD business in the United States, and Toshiba continues to hold that view. While Toshiba appreciates the jury's time and effort, Toshiba believes that the jury's verdict is in error as to the finding of wrongdoing on Toshiba's part. Toshiba plans to pursue all available legal avenues to correct that finding.

Toshiba's Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced its enhanced business laptops product line with 3rd generation Intel Core processors and new technology developed with IBM that enables IT professionals to better control the security and power management across enterprise deployments. The new models include the Portégé Z930 Ultrabook and the Portégé R930 ultraportable, as well as upgrades to its Tecra line of laptops, business workhorses with enhanced durability, security and reliability.

Toshiba's Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced its roadmap of new computing devices designed for Microsoft Windows 8. Toshiba's new mobile solutions showcase the advanced functionality and capabilities Toshiba plans to bring to market while enhancing the experience of the new operating system.

"These inspiring new PC and tablet designs will allow consumers and business users to interact with Windows in amazing new ways," said Carl Pinto, vice president of marketing, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. "These products reflect Toshiba's long history of engineering breakthrough computing hardware in thin and light form factors and our close relationships with Microsoft and our silicon partners to bring them to market."

Toshiba's Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced the growth of its Ultrabook product line with the introduction of the Satellite U series. New models include the Satellite U845W, the world's first Ultrabook offering a 21:9 cinematic display, and the Satellite U845, an affordably-priced everyday Ultrabook. The new Satellite U series joins Toshiba's successful Portégé Z series Ultrabook, which will now offer new 3rd generation Intel Core processors1.

"Toshiba is setting the pace in the Ultrabook category, building on our more than 25-year heritage building thin and light mobile computing products," said Carl Pinto, vice president of marketing, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. "For the first time, consumers can get the performance benefits of an Ultrabook in thin and light designs that cater to their needs whether it's price-to-performance value, entertainment or supreme mobility."

Toshiba announced the first SSDs based on its swanky new 19 nm-class NAND flash memory. These include four models in the 2.5-inch 9.5 mm-thick form-factor (standard), another four models in the 2.5-inch 7 mm-thick form-factor (slim, for Ultrabooks); and three models in the super-compact mSATA form-factor. The 9.5 mm-thick and 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch models differ only with their thickness, and are otherwise identical, since SSDs are essentially just printed circuit boards with NAND flash memory, controllers, caches, and ancillary components soldered onto them.

The 9.5 mm-thick 2.5-inch models carry the model number scheme THNSNFxxxGBSS (xxx = number of GB capacity), while the 7 mm-thick 2.5-inch models use THNSNFxxxGCSS. Both lines are available in 64 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB capacities. The 128, 256, and 512 GB models offer transfer rates as high as 524 MB/s, while the 64 GB model offers up to 440 MB/s. Toshiba implemented a new controller that features next-generation Deterministic Zeroing TRIM (a feature exclusive with Windows 8 and future *nix kernels), Quadruple Swing-by Code (QSBC), a performance-optimized ECC-equivalent, and a read-only mode. The mSATA models (model number scheme THNSNFxxxGMCS) offer similar performance to their 2.5-inch cousins, but are available in only three capacity options, 64 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB. Toshiba will release its new line of SSDs in August.

Here are the first pictures of Toshiba's first all-in-one (AIO) desktop under the dynabook REGZA brand, the REGZA PC D732/T9. Built with 23-inch full-HD LED displays, the AIOs come in three color options, black, white, and red. Its clockwork is care of 3rd Generation Intel Core "Ivy Bridge" processors, the Core i7-3610QM with its 2.30 GHz clock speed, and 3.30 GHz Turbo Boost speed, comes standard. Other specifications include 8 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory, 2 TB of storage, a Blu-ray XL (BDXL) drive, Toshiba Active Display OFF, audio device featuring SRS Premium Sound 3D, a digital TV tuner; and other connectivity options that include USB 3.0, HDMI, gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n, and SD card reader. Prices start at 210,000 JPY (US $2,655).

Toshiba's Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced that its Canvio 3.0 and Canvio Basics 3.0 portable hard drives will now offer consumers up to 1.5 terabytes of storage and Mac compatibility, without the need for reformatting, on a select Canvio 3.0 model. All of these offerings come equipped with USB 3.0 technology for higher data transfer speeds and enable consumers quickly and easily store, transfer and back up their valuable data.

"We understand that consumers have choices when it comes to computing and as a result, have varying storage needs," said Maciek Brzeski, vice president of product marketing and development of branded storage products, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. "With our newest Canvio 3.0 portable hard drives, consumers can easily swap data between Mac and PC devices, eliminating the hassle of reformatting to work the way they want."

Western Digital Corp. today announced that it has completed its divestiture of certain 3.5-inch hard drive assets to Toshiba Corporation, as required by regulatory agencies that conditionally approved the company's completed acquisition of Viviti Technologies Ltd. (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies).

The assets will enable Toshiba to manufacture and sell 3.5-inch hard drives for the desktop and consumer electronics markets and will enhance its ability to manufacture and sell 3.5-inch hard drives for near-line (business critical) applications.

Japanese DRAM maker Elpida has been reporting chronic financial problems since the beginning of 2012. It soon filed for bankruptcy, driving interest in competitors Toshiba, Global Foundries, Micron and Hynix (SK Hynix), to acquire it. Hynix has now reportedly withdrawn from the Elpida takeover bid. The withdrawal is likely due to its own financial situation. Hynix is not the first to withdraw from the bid, the first to drop out was Toshiba. With the two gone, Micron Technology is next in line, with a bid of US $1.4 billion to buy out Elpida.

Imagine a day without your smartphone, music player, tablet, or any of your other favorite portable devices -- these are examples of the scenarios that Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., (TAEC)*, a committed leader that collaborates with technology companies to create breakthrough designs, explores in its new NAND Flash Deprivation Experiment campaign. Launched to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Toshiba's invention of NAND flash, the campaign takes a look at what happens when people are deprived of NAND flash -- and all of the everyday devices they use that are enabled by it.

I-O Data and Toshiba added a three new variants to their SSDN-3TB line of solid-state drives (SSDs) in the 2.5-inch SATA form-factor. These include an entry-level 60 GB variant, a 240 GB performance variant, and a 480 GB high-capacity variant. The 480 GB variant takes advantage of SATA 6 Gb/s interface, and provides sequential speeds of up to 480 MB/s (read) with 190 MB/s (writes), and 4K random access throughput of 58,000/27,700 IOPS (read/write); the 240 GB model has the best performance equation among the three, with 470 MB/s sequential reads, but 380 MB/s sequential writes, and 4K random access throughout of 73,600/71,900 IOPS (read/write); the 60 GB variant is capable of 480 MB/s sequential reads, 200 MB/s sequential writes, and 31,900/48,500 IOPS (read/writes) 4K random access throughput. Slated for shipping on May 05, the three models will occupy competitive price points in their respective classes.

Solid manufacturing and strong pricing allowed Micron Technology Inc. and Hynix Semiconductor Inc. to post strong performances in the global NAND flash business in the fourth quarter, allowing them to narrow the gap in market share between them and the industry leaders, and setting the stage for further advances in 2012.

No. 3-ranked Micron Technology Inc. of the United States achieved 11.7 percent revenue growth in the fourth quarter compared to the third, according to a new IHS iSuppli Data Flash Market Tracker report from information and analytics provider IHS. Meanwhile, fourth-placed Hynix Semiconductor Inc. of South Korea expanded its revenue by 5.4 percent, as presented in the table below.

Worldwide semiconductor revenues increased more than 3.7% year over year to $301 billion in 2011, according to the latest version of the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Semiconductor Applications Forecaster (SAF). The industry weathered the macroeconomic uncertainties in the U.S and Europe, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, China's slow down in the second half of the year, and floods in Thailand. Meanwhile, device applications, such as smartphones, media tablets and e-readers, automotive infotainment, notebook PCs, datacenter servers, and wireless and wired communication infrastructure drove robust consumption of semiconductors.

IDC's SAF tracks more than 100 semiconductor companies. Over 40 of these companies experienced year-over-year revenue growth greater than 5%, while about the same number of companies saw their revenue decline by more than 5%.

Toshiba Corporation today announced that it will rebuild its semiconductor manufacturing operations in Thailand by relocating Toshiba Semiconductor Thailand Co., Ltd. (TST) to a new manufacturing facility. The move will position the company to meet future growth in demand and replace the factory inundated by the 2011 floods.

Established in 1990, TST carries out back-end processes-assembly and packaging-for small signal devices and photocouplers. Small signal devices control current and voltage in digital consumer products, a product segment that is expected to grow in coming years, with a primary focus on smart phones and tablets PCs. Photocouplers are used widely in industrial products, such as inverters, and are also expected to see strong demand growth.

Kingston launched a fleet of new system-specific SO-DIMM memory packages. Each of these packages contain memory that's tested for 100% compatibility and rated performance on the notebook makes they're specific to. These include HP, Dell, Apple, Lenovo, Sony, and Toshiba. The new packages make it easy for ground-store buyers to pick the right memory for their notebooks off the rack, with minimal help from the storekeepers. Newer batches of Kingston DDR3 SO-DIMM memory for notebooks will implement the new packaging.

The worldwide PC market saw a slight increase in volume during the first quarter of 2012 (1Q12) compared to the same quarter in 2011, with shipments rising 2.3%, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. The results are slightly above IDC's February projections of a 0.9% year-on-year decline due to hard disk drive (HDD) supply constraints in addition to weak economic conditions, competition from other devices, and uncertainty about Windows 8.

HDD supply remained a key constraint through most of the first quarter, although PC makers generally had better access to drives than customers in the retail and distribution channels. As a result, large PC vendors were able to maintain shipments by managing inventory or absorbing price increases, while the impact to shipments from smaller PC makers was in line with expectations.

Toshiba's Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced its latest line of fully-equipped and sophisticated Satellite P800 Series and Satellite S800 laptops. Packed with entertainment-optimized features and performance for greater everyday computing power, plus HD multimedia enjoyment and creation, these laptops are also designed for sleek style with premium aluminum casings.

"Toshiba's Satellite P800 Series and all-new Satellite S800 Series laptops offer leading edge processing technology and outstanding audio, perfect to handle a wide range of demanding tasks, from content creation to media management and playback to 3D gaming and more," said Carl Pinto, vice president of product development, Toshiba America Information Systems, Digital Products Division. "With thinner and lighter form factors and high-quality, durable designs, these laptops are perfect for consumers looking for more of everything."

Toshiba's Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced its newest All-in-One Desktop PCs, the 21.5-inch LX815 and 23-inch LX835, which perfectly blend high performance, style and affordable pricing. These All-in-One computers serve as all-purpose devices ideal for the kitchen, family room and dorm room for effective multitasking and HD entertainment.