According to Digitimes, BenQ has announced that it will become the first Taiwanese company to deliver 16x DVD burners.

BenQ will initially deliver 16x DVD burners for the +RW format this month, to be followed by models supporting Dual (both +RW and –RW) and DL (single-sided double-layer disc) later on.

Expectations are for shipments of 40,000-50,000 16x DVD burners this month, accounting for 30% of its optical disc drive sales. 16x DVD burners will start moving toward the DVD drive mainstream beginning next month, replacing 8x models.

Sony has placed orders from BenQ for loaders, while Dell has placed OEM orders for DVD drives.

Lite-On, BenQ's largest Taiwanese competitor, is due to begin shipments of 16x DVD burners by the end of next month while BTC, will start deliveries late this month.