SANDISK ANNOUNCES SECOND QUARTER 2012 FINANCIAL RESULTS

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, announced results for the second quarter ended July 1, 2012. Total second quarter revenue of $1.03 billion declined 25% on a year-over-year basis and declined 14% on a sequential basis.

On a GAAP(1) basis, second quarter net income was $13 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared to net income of $248 million, or $1.02 per diluted share, in the second quarter of fiscal 2011 and $114 million, or $0.46 per diluted share, in the first quarter of fiscal 2012.

On a non-GAAP(2) basis, second quarter net income was $51 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, compared to net income of $278 million, or $1.14 per diluted share, in the second quarter of fiscal 2011 and net income of $156 million, or $0.63 per diluted share, in the first quarter of fiscal 2012. For reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP results, see accompanying financial tables and footnotes.

"We delivered second quarter results in line with our forecast, reflecting short-term weakness in our mobile OEM sales, strength in retail, especially in international markets, and growth in our enterprise and client SSD products," said Sanjay Mehrotra, president and chief executive officer of SanDisk. "I am pleased to report that our SSD revenues achieved 10% of second quarter sales with growing adoption of our solutions by major OEMs. We also made good progress on our embedded product roadmap for mobile customers. We believe that strengthening industry fundamentals and our expanding portfolio of solutions will contribute to improving financial results in the second half of 2012."

SECOND QUARTER 2012 KEY FINANCIAL METRICS

Metric
in millions of US$, except %
GAAP
Non - GAAP
Q212 Q211 Q112 Q212 Q211 Q112
Revenue $1,032 $1,375 $1,206 $1,032 $1,375 $1,206
Gross Profit
% of revenue $281
27.2% $613
44.6% $417
34.5% $292
28.3% $623
45.3% $432
35.8%
Operating Income
% of revenue $36
3.5% $379
27.6% $192
15.9% $68
6.6% $402
29.3% $227
18.8%
CONFERENCE CALL
SanDisk's second quarter of fiscal 2012 conference call is scheduled for 2:00 P.M., Pacific Time, Thursday, July 19, 2012. The conference call will be webcast and can be accessed live, and throughout the quarter, at SanDisk's website at www.sandisk.com/IR. To participate in the call via telephone, the dial-in number is 647-438-1131 and the dial-in password is 1091224. A copy of this press release will be furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission on a current report on Form 8-K and will be posted to our website prior to the conference call.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements about our business prospects and our expectations regarding our business, our belief that our OEM sales will improve and our industry will strengthen in the second half of 2012, our belief that industry supply/demand fundamentals are improving, our expanded product portfolio, expected financial results, and pricing and demand trends that are based on our current expectations and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate and may significantly harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate include among others:

competitive pricing pressures, resulting in lower average selling prices and lower or negative product gross margins;
potential delays in product development or lack of customer acceptance of our solutions, particularly OEM products such as our embedded flash storage solutions, and client and enterprise SSD solutions;
unpredictable or changing demand for our products, including form factors, capacities and underlying memory technologies;
excess captive memory output or capacity, which could result in write-downs for excess inventory, lower of cost or market charges, lower average selling prices, fixed costs associated with under-utilized capacity or other consequences;
inability to maintain or gain market share in client and enterprise SSD markets; and
the other risks detailed from time-to-time under the caption "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including, but not limited to, our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended April 1, 2012.
(1) GAAP represents U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
(2) Non-GAAP represents GAAP excluding the impact of share-based compensation expense, amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, non-cash economic interest expense associated with the Company's convertible debt and related tax adjustments.

ABOUT SANDISK
SanDisk Corporation is a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, from research and development, product design and manufacturing to branding and distribution for OEM and retail channels. Since 1988, SanDisk's innovations in flash memory and storage system technologies have provided customers with new and transformational digital experiences. SanDisk's diverse product portfolio includes flash memory cards and embedded solutions used in smart phones, tablets, digital cameras, camcorders, digital media players and other consumer electronic devices, as well as USB flash drives and solid-state drives (SSD) for the computing and enterprise markets. SanDisk's products are used by consumers and enterprise customers around the world.

SanDisk is a Silicon Valley-based S&P 500 and Fortune 500 company, with more than half its sales outside the United States. For more information, visit www.sandisk.com.