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Hitachi Licenses Matsushita’s SD Memory Card Host Interface IP

Tokyo, June, 11,2002 ---Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501) today announced that Hitachi has been licensed SD Memory Card host interface IP, including CPRM Hitachi has been licensed SD Memory Card host interface IP, including Company, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (TSE:6752). As a result of this agreement, Hitachi will manufacture system LSIs with this IP for the SD Memory Card compliant application products in March 2003. Small memory cards have spread as a removable media among digital application products in a wide range of fields, such as digital still cameras, PDAs and so on. The market has been expanding rapidly. SD Memory Card is the small card which the SD Card Association (SDA) promotes standardization and popularization. The features are small size, slim, high speed and enabling copyright protection. There is product line up primarily flash memory based SD card. SDA member companies have manufactured over 300 SD Memory Card application products such as digital still cameras. Hitachi focuses on mobile and network systems, car information systems and digital consumer products. By introducing this IP, Hitachi will develop and manufacture system LSIs such as SuperHTM family and H8S series as one of system solutions for SD card compliant application products such as mobile phones, car navigation systems, digital cameras, PC peripheral applications. The market requirement for system LSIs with SD Memory Card host interface are;     1) Guaranteed interconnection with SD Memory Card     2) Reliable copyright protection for digital audio system With spreading network -delivered digital music services copyright protection becomes a significant issue in special. Hitachi will meet the needs of the market by using Matsushita's market-proven SD Memory Card host interface control technology. SD Memory Card host interface : The technology to be necessary for the application such as digital camera which uses SD Memory Card as a removable media. It follows the standard data transaction protocol of SD Memory Card. CPRM(Content Protection for Recordable Media) : The copyright protection technology for SD Memory card. Hitachi has been licensed from 4C Entity, LLC. The SD Card Association(SDA) : An open industry standards organization established by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.(Panasonic)(NYSE:MC) , SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) and Toshiba Corporation, supported by a consortium of 400 companies. The SDA's mission is to set industry standards for the SD Card and promote its wide acceptance in a variety of applications. SuperHTM is a trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. About Hitachi Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company, with approximately 320,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2001(ended March 31, 2002) consolidated sales totaled 7,994 billion yen ($60.1 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors, including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's Web site at http://global.hitachi.com.

WRITTEN BY Corporate Communications Division