History (1994): Dastek Will Exit Thin-Film Head Business

Komag, Inc. (Milpitas, CA), a supplier of thin-film disks and heads for high-performance Winchester disk drives, announced that Dastek, Inc., its thin-film head joint venture with Asahi Glass America, Inc., will exit the inductive thin-film head business after the fulfillment of existing customer product commitments.

The specific details for cessation of this business are currently under review.

Dastek has developed dual stripe MR head which has been favorably received by several customers.

This MR technology, based on co-development efforts with Hewlett-Packard, could be ready for volume production in 1995.

Komag and Asahi Glass are exploring additional sources of financing to continue these efforts.

No assurance, however, can be made that Dastek will obtain such financing, said Komag.

This article is an abstract of news published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue ≠73, published on February 1994.