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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: let who wrote (28150)	1/15/1998 9:24:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

China relies on C-Cube cores for VCD. Who will they rely on for DVD cores???????????????? nikkeibp.com China Sets Eyes on DVD Keith Chan, Beijing China's chipmakers are designing integrated circuits (IC) to be used for digital video disk (DVD) players, and the first generation of China-made DVD players are expected to be available in the second half of 1998, according to Ying Fengcai, an official with the IC Engineering Division, Department for Major Projects of Components and Devices of the Ministry of Electronics Industry (MEI) of China. However, China will still rely on foreign countries for the supply of DVD and video compact disk (VCD) cores instead of developing its own products. Wang said Chinese chip makers are putting effort into designing ICs for DVD players because they expect this market to enjoy the same popularity that VCD enjoys today in a few years time. "They think that the market for VCD is a bit saturated at present, so they have started developing ICs for DVD products," he said. Jin Cunzhong, section chief and senior engineer of the Department for Major Projects of Basic Products of Ministry of Electronics Industry, said the popularity of DVD in China will depend on people's income level and whether there will be sufficient supply of DVD titles. He said as VCD is likely to dominate the market in the next few years, the first generation of China-made DVD players should also be able to play VCD disks. Jin said China's some 300 VCD player manufacturers produced some 11 million units of VCD players in 1997, and the number is expected to reach 20 million units in 1998. Wang said the growth would have been higher if not for the shortage in the supply of VCD cores from overseas. He said at present all cores used in China-made VCD players are from overseas, mainly from CCube Microsystems, Inc of the US. Despite the shortage in the supply of VCD cores, China has no plan to produce its own VCD cores. "As far as I know, there is no such planning in China. This is not a problem of resources, but technology," Wang said. "Although the VCD market is very big at present, it may have already reached a plateau. If we start investing (in VCD cores) now, by the time we come up with the products the demand may have already declined."