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Japan's Sharp Corp has announced plans to increase the power of its blue-violet laser diodes for Blu-ray disc player applications, says a report from Nikkei's Tech-On.

According to the report, Sharp aims to ship 300mW blue-violet laser diodes that can record at 8x or higher speeds on
dual-layer discs early in 2009, and to follow it with the release of a 350mW product towards the end of the year. Also, the company expects to release a 400mW product in 2010 (for multi-layer recording at 8-12x speeds).

In February, the company introduced 250mW blue-violet laser diodes, enabling recording on dual-layer Blu-ray discs at 4-6x speeds. Mass production of the 250mW blue-violet laser diodes is due to begin in April. Also in April, Sharp will begin shipping mass-produced 400mW red laser diodes, for 20x high-speed recording on dual-layer discs.

Sharp expects global sales of around 22m low-power blue-violet laser diodes this year, with sales of high-power blue-violet diodes reaching 2.2m as the Blu-ray market continues to grow. Sharp forecasts that annual sales of low-power diodes will exceed 100m in 2010, with high-power diodes reaching the same point by 2012. Also, the company anticipates that by 2009 annual sales of high-power red laser diodes will exceed 300m, and will reach 400m
in 2013.

To meet this growing demand, this April will see Sharp complete a combined low- and high-power blue-violet laser diode capacity ramp, from 500,000 units per month last July to 700,000 units per month. The company will also increase its monthly production rate of high-power red laser diodes, from 5m in fiscal 2007 to 7m in fiscal 2008, says Nikkei.

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