Lite-On to begin slim-type DVD-ROM shipments in April

Lite-On IT recently received orders to produce slim-type DVD-ROMs for notebooks from Fujitsu-Siemens, with official shipments scheduled to begin in April, the Commercial Times Chinese-language newspaper reported. Although shipments will be limited initially, the orders mean more than just revenues and profits since they are Lite-On’s first slim-type optical drive orders from a major international company, the report said.

Fujitsu-Siemens began sourcing desktop-use CD-ROM, CD-R and DVD-ROM drives early this year.

Monthly optical drive shipments by the Taiwan-based company are currently over 2.3 million units, ranking it second in the world. Lite-On’s CD-R drive shipments in August 2001 were the world’s largest. However, since the company only completed development of slim-type drives for notebooks at the end of 2001, its clients in this sector have only been local companies.

DVD-ROM drives are Lite-On’s main focus this year. The company shipped 1.6 million DVD-ROM drives in 2001 for an 8% share of the global market. It is expecting to ship five million to six million units for a 30% market share this year.

Lite-On is shipping about 300,000-400,000 DVD-ROM drives per month currently.

Lite-On has secured a sufficient supply of key components such as spindle motors and pick-up heads through partnerships with JVC, Sanyo and Hitachi.

Besides continuing to bid for slim-type DVD-ROM orders from international companies, Lite-On will also enter the clone market under its own brand name.