Sony sources 60% optical drives from India

Firm increased sourcing from countries like India after manufacturing base was hit by tsunami and Thai floods

Japanese electronics major Sony sources about 60 per cent of its global requirement of optical drives from India, said Kenichiro Hibi, Managing Director, Sony India.

The company, which used to produce all optical drives at its own factory run by its wholly owned subsidiary Sony Optiarc, had increased sourcing from countries like India after its manufacturing base was severely affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March last year, followed by disastrous flood in Thailand later last year.

The natural calamities had severely affected the company’s supply chain and the shortage in power supply in Japan had forced Sony, like many other electronics manufacturers in the country, to curtail production.


“It took almost six months to streamline the production and the supply chain,” said Hibi, adding that Sony had started spread its manufacturing of different products in different countries like China and Malaysia.

Though optical drives market is declining globally, Sony would need optical drives that include CD, DVD and blue-ray drives, for its notebooks, game consoles and home entertainment products. “We would continue sourcing optical drives from India,” said Hibi, adding that the percentage of sourcing of the product has increased in the past one year, especially after its production base was affected by natural disastrous. However, he did not want to comment on if the company would further increase sourcing from India.

In FY2011, Sony had sold 8.4 million PCs, including notebooks, 7 million blue-ray disc players and 18 million of Playstations (2 and 3) globally, according to its annual report. These are the products that carry optical drives with it.

Interestingly in August, Sony had announced that it would eject manufacturing optical drives and close down Sony Optiarc that has about 15 per cent share of the optical drives market globally. The operations would be shut down by March 2013.

True, this brings a sizeable opportunity for Indian optical drive manufacturers, though globally the optical drive market is not growing. According to a report by market intelligence firm iHS iSuppli, total shipment of optical disk drives is expected to be at 299.8 million units in 2012 globally, marginal increase from 297.7 units in 2011.

When asked, Sony declined to reveal the names of the companies that make optical drives for Sony in India. Earlier, Taiwan based Liteon used to make optical drives for Sony before it had started producing on its own through Optiarc. Liteon also has a unit in India.