Taipei, Dec. 3, 2009 (CENS)--With the Christmas sales season in America and Europe approaching, Taiwanese optical disc suppliers, including CMC Magnetics Crop Corp and Ritek Corp., have actively expanded their output to cash in on sizeable business opportunities generated by increasingly strong consumer demand for blue-ray DVD players, according to industry sources.

To welcome year-end sales seasons, a number of blu-ray DVD player brands have moved to cut selling prices of their models to attract consumers, with some smaller ones even launching models priced at less than US$100 in the U.S. and European countries. For instance, a Magnavox-branded, US$78 blu-ray DVD player has been available in Wal-Mart`s product shelf as the cheapest model in the market now.

Furthermore, Sony`s BDP-S360 blu-ray disc player now sells for only US$148 per unit in Wal-Mart`s category, slightly lower than the same model`s US$148.97 on Amazon`s e-shopping website. Also, Samsung is allegedly to soon launch an own-brand model priced at under US$150 to tap the market during Christmas.

Facing the booming market for blu-ray disc players, CMC has stepped up its blu-ray disc capacity expansion recently, while Ritek has kicked off operations of some of its newly added production lines. Ritek`s output of blu-ray discs for the second half of this year is expected to double from the first half.

In the meantime, Taiwanese disc drive makers, such as Quanta Storage Inc. and Lite-On Information Technology Corp., have also seen their shipments gradually move up in line with the upcoming booms in the market for blu-ray DVD players. Industry insiders noted the market boom is expected to simmer into 2010, as continuously declining prices will make the products more popular with consumers.

(by Steve Chuang)