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C-Cube First to Reach Ten Million Unit Milestone for DVD Chip Shipments
MILPITAS, Calif., Sept. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- C-Cube Microsystems (Nasdaq: CUBE - news) today announced that it has become the first chip supplier in the world to surpass the ten million unit milestone in silicon shipments for the worldwide DVD market. The DVD format was only launched in 1997. This announcement comes a little more than a year after C-Cube became the first company to ship one million DVD decoders in a single quarter. The company topped the million mark again the following quarter and went on to ship nearly four million DVD chips in 1999, exceeding the total shipments by the entire industry in 1998. In addition, C-Cube was ranked the world's number one supplier of DVD silicon for 1999 by the market research firm Cahners In-Stat Group with about 30% overall market share.
``The DVD market is experiencing explosive growth, and our unit shipments correlate directly to the expansion of the overall market,'' said C-Cube CEO Umesh Padval. ``As we look ahead, our unique silicon roadmap should continue to drive the market for DVD-Audio, Internet- and digital TV-ready DVD, and the introduction of recordable players.''
``C-Cube's DVD silicon shipments are no surprise,'' said In-Stat's senior analyst Michelle Abraham. ``This is a company that has developed a very strong following among many of the world's leading consumer electronic manufactures including Hitachi, Samsung, Zenith, LG Electronics, and JVC. You don't earn that type of customer loyalty without delivering some of the world's most advanced digital video technology.''
C-Cube's DVD technology includes ZiVA-4, the company's fourth generation DVD solution with higher levels of integration and advanced audio and video features including MP3 audio decode, on-the-fly video zoom of movies, and slow-motion forward and reverse. ZiVA-4 also features an integrated video encoder that delivers full support for all major NTSC and PAL standards. Already in high-volume production, ZiVA-4 provides OEMs with full disc playback compatibility for DVD, Chaoji VCD, SuperVCD, VCD and CD-DA, as well as full compatibility with and easy migration from ZiVA-3. C-Cube's ZiVA-4 accounted for the bulk of the company's DVD silicon shipments worldwide in the first half of 2000.
DVD Players Continue Strong Growth
Figures compiled for the US retail market by the Consumer Electronics Association showed that over 2.7 million DVD players were shipped during the first half of 2000 -- more than double the number shipped in the first half of 1999. The record surge brought the total units shipped to US retailers since the format's 1997 launch to nearly 14 million. If that growth rate continues, the CEA predicted, as many as 9 million players could be shipped to US retailers by year's end. In another area of strong growth, the research arm of financial consulting firm Ernst & Young reported that shipments of DVD movies and music videos numbered nearly 65 million in the first half of 2000, up 250 percent from the same period last year.
``More and more consumers are making it clear that they will settle for nothing less than the superb video and sound quality and innovative features they have discovered in DVD players,'' C-Cube's Padval said. ``We are proud that our DVD silicon is playing a leading role in such an exciting revolution in home entertainment.''
About C-Cube
The company is a worldwide leader in digital media processing and is leading the way with new communication processors and networked consumer products. With a focus on DVD, set-top boxes and codec enabled products, C-Cube is driving the technology for the ``networked digital home.''
C-Cube is headquartered in Milpitas, California and has offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information please visit our web site at www.c-cube.com.
NOTE: C-Cube, the C-Cube logo are registered trademarks of C-Cube Microsystems, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
SOURCE: C-Cube Microsystems, Inc.
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