Small Taiwan CD-R makers stop production or seek mergers

June 22, 2004

GristyMcFisty reports us that small Taiwanese
manufacturers of CD-Recordable media are struggling because of the ever
decreasing price of their goods. Some second-tier Taiwanese manufacturers have
already stopped CD-R production or have
sought mergers with leading local producers:

Due to intense competition domestically and from China, CD-R disc
prices have fallen to US$ 0.12-0.14 from leading Taiwanese makers, US$
0.09-0.10 from second-tier makers and below US$ 0.08 for some small
makers, local makers indicated.

Manufactures have halted production on CD-R
production lines to stem the money loss, the makers pointed out. One
second-tier maker with a monthly production capacity of 20-30 million CD-R
discs is looking to be acquired by one of the leading makers but the
target buyers seem uninterested, the local makers
added.

I guess when new and better technologies become mainstream
(such as DVD-Recordable discs) older technologies will fade away slowly. It
seems inevitable to me.

Source: DigiTimes