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  • 11 November 2015 09:30

WESTERN DIGITAL ANNOUNCES JOINT VENTURE WITH CHINA-BASED TECHNOLOGY COMPANY UNISPLENDOUR CORPORATION LIMITED

• Joint venture to market and sell data center storage systems in China • Combines Unisplendour’s knowledge of the Chinese market with Western Digital’s technology solutions


IRVINE, Calif. and BEIJING, China — November 11, 2015 — Western Digital® Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) and Unisplendour Corporation Limited (Unis) (SZSE: 000938) today announced an agreement to form a joint venture to market and sell Western Digital’s current data center storage systems in China and to develop data center storage solutions for the Chinese market in the future. The joint venture will be owned 51% by Unis and its subsidiary, Unissoft (Wuxi) Group Co., Ltd., and 49% by Western Digital. It will combine Unis’ knowledge of the Chinese market with Western Digital’s storage solutions portfolio.

“China is a fast-growing enterprise IT market. This joint venture is a useful opportunity to offer our solutions in this dynamic market while working with a company which provides key insights into China,” said Western Digital Chief Executive Officer Steve Milligan. “With Unis’ experience, together we can offer a portfolio of storage solutions that is tailored to the needs of China-based customers. We also look forward to maintaining strong relationships with our existing partners in China.”

“We are excited to offer our knowledge of the Chinese IT space in order to bring Western Digital’s portfolio of storage solutions to market,” said Weiguo Zhao, Chairman of Tsinghua Unigroup and Unisplendour Corporation. “Our track-record of working with global technology companies has positioned us well as Western Digital’s partner in this endeavor, and we look forward to capturing the attractive growth opportunity in China together.”

The transaction has been approved by the boards of each company, and the joint venture is expected to become operational by the second calendar quarter of 2016, pending regulatory approvals. The joint venture will be based in China.

About Western Digital
Founded in 1970, Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC), Irvine, Calif., is an industry-leading developer and manufacturer of storage solutions that enable people to create, manage, experience and preserve digital content. It is a long-time innovator in the storage industry. Western Digital Corporation is responding to changing market needs by providing a full portfolio of compelling, high-quality storage products with effective technology deployment, high efficiency, flexibility and speed. Its products are marketed under the HGST and WD brands to OEMs, distributors, resellers, cloud infrastructure providers and consumers. Financial and investor information is available on the company’s Investor Relations website at investor.wdc.com

About Unisplendour
As a leading information technology company in China, Unisplendour Corporation Limited (Unis, 000938.SZ) is dedicated to research, development, production, sales and service of IT products and solutions. Centered by its "cloud-network-endpoint" strategy, Unis' business has covered a broad range from servers, storage, networking equipment to IT service, application development and system integration, and is expanding to cloud computing, mobile Internet and big data processing.

Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include those concerning the anticipated benefits of the joint venture with Unis and the timing of its commencement of operations. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, including: the possibility that the joint venture may not commence operations within the anticipated timeframe; the expected benefits of the joint venture may not materialise as expected; volatility in global economic conditions; business conditions and growth in the storage ecosystem; pricing trends and fluctuations in average selling prices; the availability and cost of commodity materials and specialised product components; unexpected advances in competing technologies; the development and introduction of products based on new technologies and expansion into new data storage markets; actions by competitors; and other risks and uncertainties in Western Digital’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Western Digital’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on Aug. 21, 2015.  You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, and neither Western Digital nor Unis undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
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Western Digital, WD and the WD logo are registered trademarks in the U.S. and other countries. HGST trademarks are intended and authorised for use only in countries and jurisdictions in which HGST has obtained the rights to use, market and advertise the brand. Other marks may be mentioned herein that belong to other companies.

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