(Japanese Site)
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| Taiwan's Advanced Information to Promote 40x CD-ROM Drives
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June 15, 1998 (TAIPEI) -- Taiwan's Advanced Information
Inc. plans to introduce a 40x CD-ROM drive later this
month in a bid to revive profit margins of CD-ROM
manufacturing.
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Advanced Information is an affiliate of Taiwan computer
giant Acer Inc. The company is not the first to introduce
a 40x CD-ROM drive, as some companies in the United States
already offer this product, and even a few of its Taiwan
rivals are quite close behind.
A marketing executive with Advanced Information said that
his company's decision to make the 40x CD-ROM drive was
due mainly to the fact that unit prices of 32x products
have fallen off the US$40 benchmark. The 36x models are
also cheap at around US$45 to US$46 each. The profit
margin for 40x models is slightly higher than that for 36x
products, but still lower than before, he added.
Will other CD-ROM drive makers in Taiwan follow in
Advanced Information's steps? Most companies say that
while they do not want to become the first to sell 40x
models, they are also unwilling to be the last.
Lite-on Technology Inc. says that it has the necessary
technology and ability to make 40x CD-ROM drives, and will
not exclude the possibility of doing so when the time is
right. The company adds, however, that it will not
actively develop the 40x model market any time soon,
because its output of 32x products is still quite large,
at around 600,000 units a month.
Pan International Ind. Corp. is less optimistic about the
future of the 40x CD-ROM drive market, saying that such
products have a high production cost and a limited market.
Behavior Tech Computer Corp. and Acer Peripherals Inc., on
the other hand, have both begun producing 40x CD-ROM
drives on a limited scale.
(Commercial Times, Taiwan)
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