Optical disc drive manufacturer Lite-On IT reported December revenues of NT$3.026 billion, a fifth consecutive record month. Full-year revenues came to NT$25.663 billion, surpassing its target of NT$25.075 billion. Higher-than-expected revenues came from a rapid increase in CD-RW drive shipments in the third quarter. Lite-On anticipated full-year shipments of 16.8 million optical disc drives but now estimates it shipped 19.3 million units in 2001. Of the total, CD-ROM drives made up 66%, CD-RW drives 26% and DVD-ROM drives 12.6%. In comparison, LG Electronics shipped an estimated 22.5 million units and Samsung Electronics 16.9 million units.

In December, Lite-On shipped one million CD-ROM, 800,000 CD-RW and 300,000 DVD-ROM drives, for a respective product mix of 47.6%, 38.1% and 14.3% and total of 2.1 million units.

New products lined up for release in the first half of 2002 include a slim-type DVD-ROM for notebooks, an external 24x speed CD-RW drive and a 40x speed CD-RW drive for PCs. Lite-On will launch a new combo drive in the second half.