| With six locations and more than 1,300 researchers worldwide, Toshiba's R&D centers are committed to helping sustain and enhance Toshiba's leadership and growth in the areas of multimedia, mobile computing, communications and audio-visual technologies. Building on our unrivaled strengths in the enabling technologies and components that support advances in IT, including semiconductors, LCDs, hard disk and optical disk drives, Toshiba's R&D has been at the forefront of some of the decade's most exciting technological developments. In the U.S., Toshiba consistently ranks among the top 10 companies to receive patents by the U.S. patent office. With more than 1100 patents in 1998, 1999 and 2000, Toshiba forges ahead to deliver world-class technologies that shape the future today. | 
