Lite-On to begin churning out 16X dual format drives

Lite-On, reportedly the
fourth largest producer of DVD recorder drives, behind Hitachi, NEC and
Pioneer, will begin producing 16X drives by months end. According
to this report at DigiTimes, Lite-On kicks out 600,000 12X and 8X
drives a month.

Lite-On IT, Taiwan's largest manufacturer of optical disc drivers, will start volume production of 16x DVD Dual (+RW & -RW) burners for ODM/OEM clients by the end of this month, according to general manager of the company's Optical Disc Drive Business Unit, Michael Gong. The 16x DVD Dual burners are initially expected to sell at a retail price of about US$ 179, Gong indicated.

By the end of June this year, Lite-On IT
sold 2.74 million DVD burners and recorders in total. This year, they have set a
goal of 8 million units to be sold, again this includes recorders and burner
sales combined. So, it looks like they have their work cut out for them. Perhaps
the second half with holiday sales will make it happen, which is how they can
claim 600,000 a month.

Source: DigiTimes