Since the beginning of this
year contract prices for both half-height CD-RW drives and combo drives have dropped sharply. The current contract prices (month June) are
28USD, only 50% of what they were at the beginning of 2003:
As a result of the dropping prices, most Taiwanese optical
storage drive makers project depressed revenues in the second quarter,
already the traditional low season. Strong increases in sales are likely
in the second half of the year if new recordable DVD drives do well, the
companies said.
 First-tier optical storage drive makers in Taiwan, including
Quanta Storage, BenQ and Lite-On IT, all plan to launch recordable DVD
drives in the second half of the year. Initial monthly shipments of the
companies are estimated at less than 100,000 units each, sources
said.
|
Contract manufacturing prices for 52x half-height CD-RW drives have dropped
to 35-40USD early this quarter from 50-60USD in the first quarter. Read the
complete article here.
Source: DigiTimes
