MediaTek, the company that is one the factors of the big success of Lite-On drives, because it makes the chipset that can be overlclocked, expects to capture one-third of combo drive chipset market next year.
Because it sells its chipsets to optical storage giant Lite-On IT and to Quanta Storage and has contracts with many others it will have a large market share. Combo drives are attractive to drive manufactures because they are able to make bigger profits on them.
Quanta Storage began shipping combo drives last May and targets shipping five million units next year. The company estimated shipping 1.6 million units this year. Lite-On IT began shipping combo drives this month and aims to ship three million units next year. Both companies rely solely on Mediatek for combo drive chipsets. |
Mediatek is said to also supply a small quantity of combo drive chipsets to LG Electronics. Other combo drive makers include Japan-based Matsushita (Panasonic), Toshiba, Sharp, Ricoh and Sanyo.
Mediatek said that it expects combo drive chipsets to contribute 5% of its total revenues this year. According to sources, chipsets account for about one-fifth of a combo drive's quoted price. Combo drives cost about US$60-70 and are retailed at US$70-75, so a chipset should be priced at about US$12-15.
Last May Mediatek launched a highly-integrated combo drive chipset supporting 48x and 24x CD-RW write and 16x DVD-ROM read speeds. Read the entire story here.
Source: Digitimes.com
