CMC Magnetics and Ritek have 6x Blu-ray Disc (BD)-R discs in the process of certification by potential clients and plan to kick off volume production in August or the third quarter.
Japan-based Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic) last week became the world's first vendor to unveil 6x BD-R discs and will launch single- and double-layer versions for sale in Japan next month, according to industry sources in Taiwan.
The BD Association approved the 6x BD-R specification in March defining a maximum write speed of 216Mbps, 20-25% faster than that of 16x DVD+R/-R, the sources noted.
LG Electronics is, so far, the only vendor of 6x BD burners, and 6x BD discs are expected to be relatively expensive, implying 2x and 4x will remain the mainstream BD standard, the sources pointed out.
CMC Magnetics has two BD production lines with a total capacity of 500,000 discs per month. Ritek has one production line at present but plans to add two more to reach a total monthly capacity of 750,000 discs in the second half of 2008, the sources indicated.
Story source:
digitimes.com.
