The corporate credit rating on Toshiba reflects the company's high degree of business diversity, as well as its technological strengths in information and communications equipment and systems. These positive factors are mitigated by the company's relatively high exposure to the volatile and competitive semiconductor market. The rating also incorporates concerns that adverse conditions in the domestic economy will impede the company's efforts to improve its financial profile. In fiscal 2000 (ended March 31, 2001), the company showed strong improvement in earnings and cash flow. Nonetheless, most of this was attributable to the growth in its semiconductor business, reflecting favorable conditions in this market in the first half of fiscal 2000. Despite Toshiba's efforts to establish a solid earning base by
