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In 2003, Taiwan-based optical storage drive makers are expected to ship between two million and 2.4 million half-height recordable DVD drives, among which 700,000 to one million, or 30-50%, are expected to come from Lite-On IT, according to DigiTimes.

Lite-On IT expects to start shipping 4x half-height DVD+RW drives in July and is set to launch an 8x half-height DVD-Dual drive in the fourth quarter. Total monthly shipments of the company’s recordable DVD drives will grow to 200,000-300,000 after the 8x DVD-Dual drive is launched at year-end, the company said.

Shipments of 4x DVD+RW drives are expected to be 100,000 units in September, and the company expects to generate NT$3.1 billion to NT$4.4 billion from its DVD+RW drive sales this year – if the ASP (average selling price) is maintained at around US$130, the company said.

Lite-On IT’s recordable DVD drives will use chip sets provided by MediaTek and pick-up heads (PUHs) from Sanyo Electric. Compared to some local companies that procure DVD loaders as a whole, Lite-On IT expects to save production costs with its strong systems integration capability, the company said.

In related news, Lite-On IT has lowered its 2003 forecast for its slim-type combo drive shipments to about two million units from three million earlier. The company’s monthly combo drive shipments are currently at about 100,000 units, the company said.