This is to announce that Hitachi Cable, Ltd., and Corning Group's fiber-optic cable manufacturing company Corning Cable Systems LLC (Headquarters: North Carolina, USA; CEO: Sanford D. Lyons, hereinafter 'CCS'), have reached Memorandum Of Understanding (hereinafter 'MOU') regarding the establishment of a new company that will manufacture fiber-optic cables for the Japanese market.

This company will be a 50-50 joint venture between Hitachi Cable and CCS, and it will take over the domestic fiber-optic cable manufacturing businesses of both Hitachi Cable and CCS. Hitachi Cable and CCS will supply fiber-optic cores to the new company and also continue to handle sales, while the newly established company will handle fiber-optic cable manufacturing.

The concept of "e-Japan" as set forth by the Japanese government's IT strategy commission has prompted the spread of Fiber To The Home (FTTH). This spread has been helped by the construction of optical networks by organizations like the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport and local governmental bodies as well as significant capital investment from the NTT Group and power companies. Japan's fiber-optic market is rapidly becoming one of the world's leading markets. In order to respond to the increasing demand this growth brings, both companies feel that it is vital to strengthen their fiber optic cable manufacturing systems.

CCS has fiber-optic cable manufacturing bases around the world, and thus far CCS's North Carolina plant has handled fiber-optic cable manufacturing and supply for the Japanese market. CCS realized that a Japanese manufacturing plant would be necessary to meet the growing demand and short delivery times for the Japanese market, and has been investigating how to set up such a manufacturing plant.

Hitachi Cable has a manufacturing plant in Japan for domestic fiber-optic cable production, and has been able to meet market needs by leveraging its considerable technological prowess. However, Hitachi Cable has realized that it needs to enhance its domestic production system in order to meet the growing demand in Japan for fiber-optic cables.

These realizations led the two companies to form a joint venture and create a new company to handle the domestic manufacturing of fiber-optic cables. This joint venture will create a stronger and more efficient domestic manufacturing base.

Under this joint venture, Hitachi Cable's Hitaka Works (Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture) will transfer its domestic fiber-optic cable manufacturing equipment to the new company. The CCS plant in North Carolina will also move its Japan-bound fiber-optic cable manufacturing equipment to the new company. The integration of the two companies' manufacturing equipment and technology will create a highly efficient production system.

While both companies will transfer their Japan-bound fiber-optic cable manufacturing capabilities to the newly created company, Hitachi Cable and CCS will supply the new joint venture with fiber-optic cores and handle product sales individually using their own sales networks. Hitachi Cable and CCS will give the new company their full support.

Hitachi Cable and CCS are in the process of finalizing the particulars of this deal, and expect that the formal contract and creation of the joint venture company will be finalized in January of 2002. Transfer and installation of manufacturing equipment will follow, and the new company is expected to open in August of 2002.

Sanford D. Lyons, CEO of CCS, says, "Japan possesses one of the world 's most advanced fiber-optic cable markets. It is already the world 's second largest, and we expect that this market, with its focus on FTTH, will continue to grow. By placing a manufacturing plant close to the market and to customers, we will be able to meet the short delivery times demanded by customers and also rationalize our distribution system. Moreover, establishing a Japanese manufacturing base will allow us greater flexibility and enable us to provide first-class services to the Japanese market. Because of our long-standing business relationship with Hitachi Cable, as well as our cooperation on this manufacturing manufacturing, we feel that this business will be up and running quickly. We also expect that this joint venture will enhance our manufacturing base while increasing its efficiency.

Hitachi Cable President and Representative Director Seiji Hara added, "the Japanese fiber-optic cable market has been strong even in the midst of the recent IT downturn. At Hitachi Cable, we have been working on how we can increase our manufacturing and competitive ability to take advantage of this active market. Working out this MOU for a joint venture with CCS regarding the manufacturing of fiber-optic cables is very significant for Hitachi Cable, as this MOU will play a big role in helping us to dramatically improve our competitiveness in the fiber-optics field. CCS possesses some of the finest manufacturing equipment in the world, and the combination of CCS's technology with Hitachi Cable's technology will make for a stable supply system able to meet future changes in demand. Under this joint venture, we will pour every effort into growing our fiber-optic cable business, which, along with our submarine fiber-optic cable business, makes up the core of our optical cable business.

Joint Venture at a Glance

1.	Name: Advanced Cable Systems Corp.(Tentative)
2.	Capital: Undecided
3.	Investment Ratio: 50% by CCS, 50% by Hitachi Cable
4.	Date of Establishment: January 2002 (expected)
5.	Opening: August 2002 (expected)
6.	Operation Scale: Yearly sales of approximately 25.0 billion yen (estimated based on the combined fiscal 2000 performance of CCS and Hitachi Cable)
7.	Board of Directors Structure: An equal number of directors will be elected from both CCS and Hitachi Cable
8.	Representative Director : Expected to be chosen among the directors from Hitachi Cable
9.	Employees: Approximately 300
10.	Primary Product: Fiber-optic cables (for the Japanese market)
11.	Location of Headquarters: Undecided
12.	Location of Production : Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture

CCS At a Glance

1.	Location of Headquarters: Hickory, North Carolina
2.	Date of Establishment: 1977
3.	Employees: 13,000 (as of November 2001)
4.	Supplementary Information : CCS is a global corporation with operations in 36 countries around the world. A network solutions provider, CCS produces a wealth of products including fiber-optic cables and devices for metallic networks. With its corporate philosophy of "total quality" and its unswerving pursuit of high-quality products and services that are highly reliable, CCS is working to satisfy customers the world over.