Optodisc Technology, an optical disc maker specializing in DVD discs in Taiwan, will invest NT$1.0 billion (£17m) to expand its monthly production capacity to 50 million discs, including DVD+R/-R, DVD+RW/-RW and DVD-RAM, in the fourth quarter of this year, according to company president Jasper Chao at an institutional investor conference on May 11.
The capacity expansion will happen by adding new manufacturing equipment as well as improving the existing production lines to reduce defect rates for all types of discs and the cycle time of making DVD+R/-R discs, Chao pointed out. The shortening of cycle time can increase DVD+R/-R capacity by 1.6-1.7 million discs a month, Chao indicated.
While 8x DVD+R/-R discs are the mainstay of shipments at present, Optodisc expects shipments of 16x DVD+R/-R discs to grow to 30% of the total volume next quarter, Chao noted. In addition, the company has succeeded in development of 20x DVD+R/-R discs and LightScribe DVD discs and has these products being certified by clients, with volume production likely to begin in the fourth quarter of this year.
Chao predicted that the global oversupply of DVD discs will end by the end of this quarter and the global supply may turn to be short next quarter or the fourth quarter. The global demand for DVD+R/-R and DVD+RW/-RW will rise from 2.107 billion discs in 2004 to 3.917 billion discs this year, Chao quoted an estimate by Japan-based Techo Systems Research (TSR).
digitimes.com.
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