CMC Magnetics DVD+R DL media certified by Philips

August 27, 2004

Digitimes
today reports that CMC Magnetics is the first and so far only
Taiwanese manufacturer to obtain certification by Philips for its DVD+R DL
media. CMC's main competitor in Taiwan, Ritek,
has already been shipping its DL media for some time now but they are however
not certified by Philips.

CMC emphasized that it
has developed DVD+R DL technology through cooperation with Philips. CMC
has also been the only Taiwan maker to obtain Philips'
certification for 16x DVD+R discs, according to the company. With these
two certifications, the company has an estimated technology lead of half a
year over local competitors. CMC has an R&D budget of NT$ 1.3 billion
for this year, the company pointed out.

CMC
will begin to deliver DVD+R DL discs in September. Since the retail price
of US$ 5 for a DVD+R DL disc is 10 times that of an 8x DVD+R disc, CMC
expects relatively high profitability from production for this
segment.

At
Philips Licensing's website Mitsubishi Chemical's DVD+R DL media
(MID: MKM-001) is currently the only DL media listed as fully approved while
Philips-CMC's DL media (MID: PHILIPS-CD2) is listed as 'provisional approved"
together with Ricoh's DL media (MID:
RICOHJPN-D00).

Source: Digitimes