Taiwan ODD market to become more competitive in 2005

December 29, 2004

Well if
you thought that the manufaturing of optical drives was a cutthroat market this
year, you ain't seen nothing yet. According to this story over
at DigiTimes, 2005 is going to be even more intense.

In the
past, Lite-On IT, BenQ, Asustek and Pioneer have recorded market shares of
30%-40% for certain models of CD-ROM drive, DVD-ROM drive and CD-RW burner
in Taiwan. As HLDS, NEC, TSST and Philips are planning to introduce Combo
drives, slim-type Combo drives, slim-type DVD burners or other types of
ODD in 2005, the expectation is that the increased competition will make
it impossible for each of the three local and the five foreign brands to
have a market share that exceeds 30%, the Taiwan-based ODD makers pointed
out.

How do these companies make any money? Not volume that's
for sure, as we can read above market share is going to be tough to hang on to.
This DVD cycle has been so fast and furious, we have to wonder when the
first company will bail out out for the new high capacity market that will
surely be shaping up this year.

Source: DigiTimes