Sharp starting Blue Laser Diode production

[pari]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061219/tc_nm/sharp_bluelaser_dc_1


TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp Corp. (6753.T) said on Tuesday it has started the commercial production of blue laser diodes, taking aim at a market with strong growth potential.
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Sharp in November began volume output of blue laser diodes, used to read and write data on high-definition optical discs, at 150,000 units a month at its existing plant in western Japan, Sharp spokesman Hiroshi Takenami said.

The diodes can be used in DVD players based on the Blu-ray format, championed by Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). (6758.T), as well as competing HD DVD technology, promoted by Toshiba Corp. (6502.T).

Sharp, which is entering the market dominated by Sony and unlisted Nichia Corp, plans to bring the monthly capacity to 500,000 units by the end of 2007, spending several billion yen.

Takenami declined to comment on Sharp's sales target, but the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily said the Osaka-based company aims for annual blue laser diode sales of about 15 billion yen ($127.2 million) at the initial stage.

Shares in Sharp, which forecast group revenues of 3 trillion yen for the year to March, were down 0.2 percent at 2,080 yen in the early afternoon, roughly in line with the Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index (.IELEC.T).

Another source for Blue laser diode..

[Z]

good to know more are being made.

[Sephiroth_VII]

The more the merrier
:rave:

[frosty]

http://forums.e-mpire.com/showpost.php?p=1333117&postcount=32

On second thought, since this is news saying they have started production (and not just planning to like last month's article), and since it doesn't have a thread of it's own yet, I'll let it stay.

[Diresu]

500k a month, thats excellent.

[frosty]

But that's a year from now, so we won't see more than the initial 150k a month for some time, if Sony ever does see any of those diodes.

[venomv]

I imagine Sony is bidding for them if they aren't sold to someone else already.

[curryking1]

That's good news as long as a good portion are making their way into PS3s.

[The_One]

I imagine Sony is bidding for them if they aren't sold to someone else already. Who would want them at the current time? I'm sure Samsung and Pioneer all have their own production line for their own stand alone BD players. I'm betting on Sony has one of their biggest client for these diodes at the moment.

Although, HD-DVD uses Blu-Lasers as well... So, are these diodes exclusive to either format or are "swappable"?

[Elios]

This is good news because diodes produced by Sharp can be used to feed the standalone players market (Sony won't buy them for PS3 because it would cost too much) so that Sony can continue to ramp up their own production and use most of it for PS3.

[venomv]

Who would want them at the current time? I'm sure Samsung and Pioneer all have their own production line for their own stand alone BD players. I'm betting on Sony has one of their biggest client for these diodes at the moment.

Although, HD-DVD uses Blu-Lasers as well... So, are these diodes exclusive to either format or are "swappable"?

This is the third company that is making them: Sony, Nichia (?), and now Sharp. All of Sony's are going into PS3's, which means anyone else who has use for them needs to buy them from the other two. And HD-DVD lasers are the same lasers.

[Garfunkel]

i think the lasers for hddvd and bd are exactly the same but they might have slight differences in some aspects. But is good to see sharp already producing the lasers, just a bit alarming that they will only be producing about 500,000 per month by end of 2007 - that is not that much.