Hugh,
Are you going by the HMTT customer list? That would mean then that we are rooting for HMTT to qualify for the drive programs of WDC and Quantum and they all end up signing this year.
My understanding of Micropolis's business is that they specialize in high end enterprise and AV (audio visual) disk drives as well as drives used in RAIDs. I believe Micropolis's biggest customer is Streamlogic which is really the part of Micropolis that the former owners of Micropolis retained when they sold the disk drive business and the Micropolis name to Singapore Technologies. Streamlogic, I think, caters to the videoserver and RAID markets. I've always wondered about what the Singaporeans plan to do with their investment. Expand in Singapore?
As for Samsung, well, that CNET article said it all, I think.
Since we're speculating here, the Hyundai Group (global sales of about $90 billion), the Samsung Group (global sales of about $70 billion), and the Singaporean government (foreign reserves of about $80 billion) are not shabby partners to have if that's the way it should pan out. The fact that most of the global disk drive/component production capacity is in Southeast Asia (with about 50-55% in Singapore alone) doesn't hurt either. Gotta admit, though, some of the natives are going to be looking for a deal with a major. Might be good to have some reserves ready to scoop up their cheap shares as they flee in uninformed disgust, huh?
Assumptions and probabilities aside, only time will tell.
Gus
P.S. Doesn't Maxtor get a sliding scale discount relative to the best price offered to its competitors? I thought that was the basis for its MOST FAVORED PRICING status. In other words, Maxtor is guaranteed for the first 3 years of the contract, an x% discount off the lowest price that Ampex can negotiate with the other drive makers within a specific time frame.
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