- Riding on a wave of seasonal demand and benefiting from the smooth rollout of new offerings, shipments of optical disk drives from Taiwanese makers witnessed significant sequential growth in third quarter 2004. Year-on-year growth registered only 3.6%, totaling 27 million units. However, year-on-year growth does not accurately reflect third quarter performance due to the unusual third quarter of 2003, when a flood of orders from holdover demand after the SARS-induced second quarter boosted growth. ASP (Average Selling Price) registered at US$33.80 for the third quarter 2004, while total shipment value grew 2.7% year-on-year to reach US$920 million.
The timely release of new offerings allowed makers of DVD recorder drives to raise shipment volume, thus facilitating the recovery in shipment value. In the third quarter, 16X DVD recorder drives became part of the mainstream offerings and Taiwanese makers were able to make the transition more quickly than other industry players. The share of total shipment volume held by DVDs rose slightly from 14% in the second quarter to 19% in the third.
DVD driver shipments outpaced CD-ROM driver shipments in the third quarter, further cementing Taiwanese makers DVD-centered production slant. The share of shipments held by DVD-ROM, Combo, and DVD recorder drivers increased sequentially from 55% to 58%. Taiwanese manufacturers of DVD recorder drives -- such as Lite-On IT and BenQ -- have already secured a significant portion of the market, and as prices continue to dip, their share of the market is likely to increase.
The fourth quarter is anticipated to see sequential growth of nearly 10% in the notebook and desktop PC sector, which bodes well for Taiwanese optical disk drive suppliers. Shipment volume for Taiwanese optical disk drives is expected to demonstrate year-on-year growth of 14.4% in the fourth quarter, exceeding 31 million units.