Impacted by escalating oil prices, US subprime mortgage woe, and snowstorms wrecking China, consumer confidence has seen significant declines so far in 2008. Nevertheless, driven by the DTR (Desktop Replacement) effect, strong notebook PC shipment performance has become the main growth driver in the overall PC industry and served to boost ODD (Optical Disk Drive) shipment as well. It is estimated that the full-year shipment volume of Taiwanese ODDs will grow about 6.4% year-on-year to around 325.0 million units in 2008. In the first half alone, Taiwanese ODD shipment volume recorded a year-on-year growth rate of 4.7%, arriving at 41.8 million units. The Taiwanese ODD shipment performance did not measure up to the growth of the global market, as Taiwanese makers failed to make significant gains in the H/H (Half Height) product segment featuring intense competition.