"...Philips Components, a unit of Philips Electronics NV , said on Wednesday it planned to double its production capacity of CD-Rewritable drives to 20 million units annually by the end of 2001. Europe's largest maker of consumer products, lighting and semiconductors said its decision was based on growing market demand.

"Experts predict that industry wide shipments of CD-RW drvies will exceed 35 million this year, and that media manufacturers will ship more than three billion CD-R/RW discs in the same timeframe," Philips Components said in a statement.

Philips Components currently has development and production facilities for CD-RW products in Belgium, Hungary and China. It plans expansion at its Hungarian facility and in Asia. In Asia, Philips plans to work with Ionics EMS of the Philippines. Earlier on Wednesday, Ionics announced it had won a $1 billion per year contract to make 10 million CD rewritable drives annually..." NULL