$299 HD DVD players unlikely to happen in 2007
On the heels of the Fuh Yuan Electronic Development admitting that it has not received orders from Wal-Mart for two million HD DVD players at a target retail price of US$299, industry sources commented that it is unlikely that HD DVD players will fall to such a low price this year.
The sources explained that global supply of HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc (BD) pick-up heads (PUHs) is still tight because yield rates on blue-laser laser diodes are quite low and the world’s major suppliers of such PUHs, including Sony and Matsushita (Panasonic), have assigned their production capacities for own use first. Since PUHs and chipsets together account for 60-70% of the production costs of HD DVD and BD players, the shortage of PUHs renders it almost impossible to minimize the production costs to below US$299 this year, the sources noted.
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