Lite-On IT anticipates delivering one million DVD drives in the first quarter of next year, according to Michael Gong, the company’s general manager for the optical disc business.

Lite-On IT started production of 8x DVD drives in November, with shipment volumes accounting for over 50% of all its DVD drives. The company believes that its DVD drive shipments will exceed one million this year, Gong indicated.

Currently, DVD+RW and DVD Dual are the two mainstream DVD drive specifications, Gong noted. To cope with continued price drops of DVD+RW and DVD Dual drives, Lite-On IT keeps upgrading the speed of drives. Gong said that 12x models will be offered in the first quarter of 2004, with 16x ones in the second half. Liteon DVD drives will be also widely used from (OEM) other manufacturers.