CMC Magnetics, Ritek as well as Prodisc Technology, a second-tier maker, are unwilling to invest in large-scale production of either Blu-ray Disc (BD) or HD DVD discs, according to industry sources in Taiwan.
The news are not surprising, since the blue-laser disc production requires new investments and companies have to pay additional royalty fees for both HD DVD and Blu-Ray formats. Taiwan holds the 72% of the world's optical disc production (CD/DVD) according to GlobalSources. However, the hesitant moves of the Taiwanese makers to invest in the new optical storage formats means that Japanese makers (Sony, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Mitsubishi Kagaku Media, TDK) will continue to dominate the global production of Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs.
Digitimes.com reports that CMC Magnetics is currently capable of making BD and HD DVD discs, but will not set up volume production capacity until global demand takes off. In addition, Ritek, which has recently obtained certification for both BD and HD DVD discs, is currently focusing production on the profitable DVD+R/-R DL discs. Prodisc has also utilized existing DVD manufacturing equipment to produce HD DVD discs in small volumes.