Recording Media

Today, Taiwan and mainland China are the undisputed world leaders in the optical recording media supply market.
In 2004, Taiwan alone produced 10.1 billion optical discs, 72% of global production. Mainland China continues to grow as a supplier hub of low-cost CD and DVD products.

To help you profit from these booming supply markets, this report offers you profiles of 35 manufacturers that you can use to benchmark current suppliers and pre-qualify new ones.

You'll also get a comprehensive industry overview, including trends, price forecasts and coverage of other issues that will impact your sourcing in the next 12 months.

What you'll get

In-depth profiles of 27 major recording media suppliers, with data on manufacturing capabilities, R&D initiatives, product development plans and more. Based on factory inspections and interviews with senior managers, this information is available nowhere else

Profile tables of 8 additional producers, highlighting key sourcing statistics such as manufacturing processes, production mixes, targeted export markets and R&D focus

A full-color product comparison table that spotlights 132 popular export models with prices and top-line specifications

Comprehensive information on manufacturers that supply to leading companies such as Sony, TDK, JVC, Maxwell, IBM and Best Buy

How you'll benefit

Sharpen your competitive edge with inside knowledge of leading manufacturers' research initiatives and product-development plans

Find new opportunities by learning which suppliers are investing in bigger factories, better equipment and new production lines to meet anticipated increase in demand

Get the results of Global Sources' latest supplier survey highlighting trends in export sales, product designs and much more over the next 12 months

Easily compare different recording media manufacturers with summary listings of featured producers, including comparable statistics and verified contact details

Executive summary

Global supply of optical recording media is centered in Taiwan and mainland China. Although there are only 15 suppliers of optical discs in Taiwan, the island accounts for more than half of the world's production volume.

Estimates provided by the market research firm Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center (IEK) show that Taiwan produced a total volume of 10.1 billion units of optical discs in 2004, comprising 72 percent of the worldwide production of 14 billion units.

In mainland China, the optical media sector is made up of 30 companies producing mainly CD-R and DVD-R.

For the magnetic media sector, only a few makers in Taiwan maintain production lines for blank audio and video cassettes. In mainland China, only 12 volume manufacturers of blank audio and video cassettes remain.

Most magnetic media makers in the mainland have either moved to the manufacturing of optical discs or have gone into the production of cassette cases, CD cases and DVD cases.

This report covers 35 recording media manufacturers in Taiwan and mainland China. Global Sources market analysts visited the factories of 27 of these companies. Among the findings of this report are:

Production capability
Taiwan's output of optical media for 2004 was valued at US$2.7 billion or 68 percent of the global production value of US$4 billion.

The production volume of optical media in Taiwan is estimated to grow by 8.9 percent in 2005 to 11 billion units, and by 16.8 percent in 2006 to 11.8 billion units.

Of the 10.1 billion optical discs manufactured in Taiwan in 2004, CD-Rs totaled 7.38 billion units.

Of the 10.1 billion optical discs manufactured in Taiwan in 2004, CD-Rs totaled 7.38 billion units.

Mainland China's output of optical discs in 2004 was 910 million units.

The output of mainland China's magnetic media industry in 2004 was estimated at 360 million blank audio and video cassettes.

Export orientation
Exports comprised 83 percent of sales revenue for the Taiwan companies and 73 percent for the sales revenue of mainland China companies.

More than half of the companies from the mainland (52 percent) and Taiwan (55 percent) are into OEM business.

Own-brand sales is a major concern among Taiwan makers, while buyer's label business is a priority among makers on the mainland.

North America is the main export destination of products from Taiwan and mainland China. Southeast Asia, Western Europe and the Middle East are the other key market destinations.

Product trends, prices and R&D focus
For 2004, 32X and 50X CD-Rs comprised a big chunk of mainland China's optical disc output. Over 90 percent were silver-silver CD-Rs.

Rewritable CDs and DVDs were mainly from Taiwan. The mainstream DVD+Rs in 2004 had writing speeds of 4X and 8X.

The storage capacity of CDs ranged from 650MB to 700MB. Mainstream DVDs carried 4.7GB. The mainstream diameter is 120mm.

FOB prices for CD-Rs plummeted from 18 cents to between seven cents and 10 cents by the end of 2004. Taiwan manufacturers sold grade-A CD-Rs at 13 cents a piece.

R&D focus is on dye coating technology, next-generation optical products, CDR-ROM development and tracing technology. Makers are experimenting on product cosmetics, such as irregular and cartoon-shaped discs.

Industry overview

Recording media, particularly optical media, are an inexpensive and flexible tool for publishing and storing data (audio, video, computer software, computer games, etc.). Their accessibility to the ordinary individual helped boost global output and demand, often bringing about such issues as protection of intellectual property, revenue security of original content producers and proliferation of illegal content.

Nevertheless, media publishing and data storage at the consumer level will be the main driving force of the recording media industry, with recordable compact discs (CD) and digital versatile discs (DVD) leading its growth. The strong market acceptance of the DVD recorder is also fueling demand for recordable and rewriteable DVDs.

Magnetic recording media, on the other hand, is fast disappearing from the recording media manufacturing map. In mainland China, only 12 volume manufacturers of blank audio and videocassettes remain.

The Global Sources team that conducted the field operations for this market intelligence found no large-scale supplier of micro-cassettes and blank MDs. Most of the cassette suppliers are beginning to move into production of optical media.

Taiwan: Leading makers produce more than half of global output
Global supply of optical recording media is centered in Taiwan and mainland China. There are only 15 suppliers of optical discs in Taiwan, 13 of which are covered in this report. But the production volume coming out of the island accounts for more than half of the world's supply for optical discs.

Estimates provided by the market research firm Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center (IEK) showed that Taiwan produced a total of 10.1 billion units of optical discs in 2004, which accounted for 72 percent of worldwide production amounting to 14 billion units. Taiwan's output for that year was valued at US$2.7 billion, making up 68 percent of the global production value of US$4 billion.

More than 70 percent of global output of recordable CDs come from Taiwan. This is followed by mainland China (16 percent), Europe (4 percent) and other Asian countries (2 percent). IEK figures showed that 72 percent of global output of recordable DVDs also originate in Taiwan, followed by Europe (11 percent), the United States (8 percent) and other smaller production bases.

Three leading Taiwan suppliers alone — two are covered in this report — account for around 60 percent of Taiwan's total output of DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD+RW formats. These are CMC Magnetics Corp., Prodisc Technology Inc. and Ritek Corp.

The three makers also make up nearly 70 percent of Taiwan's total output of CD-R and CD-RW formats.

According to another market research company, Market Intelligence Center (MIC), CMC, Prodisc and Ritek also account for majority of global supply for CD-R (51 percent), CD-RW (67 percent), DVD-R/+R (55 percent) and DVD-RW/+RW (59 percent).

Other smaller companies make up the rest of Taiwan's optical disc manufacturing sector, including Daxon Technology Inc., Princo Corporation, Taiyo Yuden Co. Ltd, Lead Data Inc. and Gigastorage Corp. The last two companies are covered in this report.

Samples of supplier profile

Angte (Guangdong) Audio & Video Co. Ltd
Angte (Guangdong) Audio & Video Co. Ltd has capital and technology capabilities to become a professional manufacturer of high-quality CD-R discs and other audio and video accessories.

Founded in 1998, the company has its head office and factory in Shantou, Guangdong province in mainland China. In May 2003, when it installed a CD-R manufacturing facility, it became the first CD-R manufacturer in Shantou.

Before 2003, Angte was into the manufacturing and exporting of audio and video accessories. With its expansion to CD-R products, the company has built its own industrial zone, which includes two CD-R production lines.

Since H1 2004, Angte has invested US$25 million in new equipment, boosting the monthly production capacity to 16 million units.

The company estimates its monthly output to reach 32 million units in 2005. About 90 percent of the company's current production consists of 52X CD-Rs and the rest consists of requests specified by customers.

Angte derives 30 percent of its sales from OEM buyers, 30 percent from buyer's label business and the rest from its own brand. Overall sales in 2004 are estimated to have reached US$20 million, with exports accounting for half of the total amount.

The company ships 40 percent of its exports to the Middle East, 20 percent to North America, 15 percent each to Western and Eastern Europe and the rest to Central and South America.

Manufacturing capability
Angte permitted Global Sources to visit its four-story building in Heping, a town in Chaoyang district, about 10 minutes' drive from Shantou City.

The building houses its head office and a 60,000sqm factory with 450 workers.

The CD-R workshops are on the third floor. The main manufacturing workshop houses a 1,000-sqm room with 10 production lines. There is also a plastic injection machine for CD-R discs manned by two production workers.

In the middle of the 10 production lines is a Dr. Schenk inspection system. Every hour, a QA technician goes to a line and selects a sample CD-R for inspection using this machine.

From the cleaning room all discs are sent to a 500sqm silkscreen printing room nearby. The room has two fivecolor CD/ DVD silkscreen printing machines and five three-color machines, with two workers operating each machine. All the machines were bought from Taiwan Guanyin Co.

The company's total expenditure for production equipment reached about US$25 million.

Finally, the discs are sent to a 250sqm packing room, where about 10 workers check and sort the discs into A, B and C quality grades. If the disc has only visible defects, it is classified as B. If it has other defects, it goes into the C bin.

The CD-R workshops can process 16.4 million discs per month. In addition, three spare rooms of 600sqm to 800sqm each have been reserved for future manufacturing expansions.

Sample of product gallery

Blank CD Advanced Media Model name: CD-R 52X Minimum order (units): 10,000 Delivery time: 7 days Units per 20ft container: 200,000 Grade/weight (g): A grade Recording time/speed: 80 minutes/52X Storage capacity: 700MB Packaging: 100 pcs/CTN

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