Lite-On Optical Drives

When you buy a "Lite-On" (aka "LiteOn) "drive, it comes from the Taiwanese Lite-On IT Corporation, a subsidiary of Lite-On Group (not to be confused with LG Electronics, the big Korean electronics manufacturer). Even optical drives branded by other companies, such as Sony, are sometimes actually manufactured by Lite-On, perhaps with different firmware. Lite-On Group is a giant conglomerate of manufacturers, founded in Taiwan in 1985.

In April of 2006, we learned that BenQ (another popular Taiwanese maker of optical drives) is selling its optical drive business to Lite-On. BenQ is to get a 13% stake in Lite-On (and about $37 million cash), and will then be free to focus on end-user products (phones, notebooks, etc.).

See Also:

• The Lite-On DVDRW SHM-165H6S dual-layer DVD burner.

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