Ritek Global Media, a subsidiary of Ritek Corp. Ritek and Panasonic Disc Services Corp. (PDSC), a subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., has come to a basic agreement to enter into a supply agreement under which Ritek Global Media's Taiwan-based U-Tech facility will provide DVD mastering, replication, packaging, shipping and distribution services to PDSC for certain Pacific Rim countries.

The DVD business continues its explosive growth. Cambridge and Associates forecasts worldwide DVD replication in 2001 to total 1,049,000,000 units -- a 99% increase over 2000. Hollywood studios continue to dominate the worldwide market for replication with a 2001 forecast of 905 million units. The 2001 forecast for DVD-Audio is 40 million and DVD-ROM is 104 million.

Richard Marquardt, Jr., CEO of Ritek Global Media said, ``We could not be more delighted to have PDSC using our services. Upon completion of our new plants in California, Ritek with over 100 state-of-the-art replication lines will have the world's largest DVD manufacturing capacity.''

Ritek Global Media is a subsidiary of Taiwan-based Ritek Corp. (Ritek.com.tw). Ritek was selected in October 2000 by Forbes magazine as one of the world's 300 best small companies.

Ritek's California-based operations consist of two facilities (40,000 and 60,000 square feet) and 25 DVD lines. Located less than an hour from Los Angeles, a third plant (80,000 square feet) will be completed this spring and a fourth plant spanning 220,000 square feet this fall, resulting in more than 50 DVD lines.

Ritek recently changed the names of its subsidiaries around the world: Sydney, Australia (Ritek Australia); Germany (where it was known as Primedisc Technologies); Belfast, Northern Ireland (Multimedia Infotech); and Hsin Chu, Taiwan -- now known as Ritek Global Media.

Ritek supplies the world with every optical media configuration, including CD, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-Audio, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, MD, MO, as well as new configurations. The company markets flash memory, EL lamps, LCD, ITO, OLED and optical fiber. In 2000 Ritek's production exceeded 100 million pieces per month, and will be more than 150 million pieces by 2001.