Ritek expects rapid growth in the global demand for DVD+R/-R DL discs, according to deputy general manager Eric Chang for the company's Global Strategy Marketing Business Unit at a press conference on November 9. Along with continued drops in prices of DVD+R/-R DL burners and discs, the global demand for DVD+R/-R discs will grow from an estimated 40-50 million discs for this year to 180-300 million in 2006, Chang indicated. Only Ritek, Mitsubishi Chemical, and Ricoh have obtained DVD+R DL certification from the DVD+RW Alliance, Chang noted.

To cope with the fast growing global demand, Ritek will expand its monthly production capacity of DVD+R/-R DL discs from about 3.5 million discs at present to 5.0 million at the end of this year and to higher levels next year depending on market conditions, Chang pointed out. Ritek hopes sales of DVD+R/-R DL discs as a percentage of total revenue will rise from 15% currently to 20% in 2006, Chang added.

However, Ritek's point of view does not reflect the general picture of the Taiwanese market of optical discs. Both Ritek and CMC Magnetics posted losses the last months and also Prodisc, Optodisc, Princo, Leaddata and Gigastorage might dump goods at whatsover price to have cash in first. In spite of big pnic in the market, the supply and demand situation is roughly balanced, so the poor financial results could be just a short term phenomena.