- Establishment of industry-leading monthly capacity of 1.7 million blue-violet diodes and Comprehensive blue-violet laser diode product lineup including high-power output 240mw model -
- Achievement of milestone 2 billion overall laser diode shipments -



April 23, 2007, Tokyo - Sony Shiroishi Semiconductor Inc. (hereafter Sony Shiroishi), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation (hereafter Sony), today announced that as of March 2007, cumulative shipments of laser diodes have reached 2 billion units since it started production in 1986.

   As of April 2007, Sony Shiroishi has also established industry-leading monthly production capacity of 1.7 million blue-violet laser diodes, offering a comprehensive product lineup of blue-violet laser diodes for the wide-ranging needs of external customers as well as for use in Sony products. Furthermore, with Sony Shiroishi scheduled to start mass production of high-power output 240mw diodes from November this year, Sony and Sony Shiroishi will continue to stand at the forefront of the technological development and market for laser diodes going forward.

   Sony Shiroishi has established industry-leading monthly production capacity of 1.7 million blue-violet laser diodes as of April 2007, and has already made preparations to further reinforce production capacity based on future demand.
   There has recently been a rapid increase in blue-violet laser diode demand, for use in devices such as Blu-ray Disc (hereafter BD) players or game consoles. To meet this demand, Sony had already installed front-end wafer process equipment capable of producing 5 million blue-violet laser diodes (BD playback-only equivalent) per month. Sony Shiroishi will strengthen its post-process assembly capacity depending on future demand.

   In addition to the stable production and supply of high-quality, competitive blue-violet laser diodes, Sony will also offer a comprehensive lineup of blue-violet laser diodes targeting the wide-ranging needs of customers.

Model name Shipment Date Sample Price Blue-violet laser diode for BD recorder "SLD3234VF" (output 170mW, φ5.6mm) "SLD3234VFI" (output 170mW, φ3.8mm) Apr, 2007 4,500 Yen 5,000 Yen Blue-violet laser diode for BD player "SLD3131VF" (output 20mW, φ5.6mm) "SLD3131VFI" (output 20mW, φ3.8mm) Jun, 2007 900 Yen 1,000 Yen Blue-violet laser diode for BD recorder "SLD3235VF" (output 240mW, φ5.6mm) "SLD3235VFI" (output 240mW, φ3.8mm) Nov, 2007 4,500 Yen 5,000 Yen

Since its establishment in 1986, Sony Shiroishi has become a key site in the development and production of laser diodes, introducing a total semiconductor laser production system that integrates MOCVD (Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition) epitaxial growth with sophisticated wafer processes. It also produces infrared laser diodes for CD players / drive units, red laser diodes for DVD players / recorders and blue-violet laser diodes for BD players / recorders. Sony Shiroishi has shipped 2 billion cumulative units of laser diodes as of March 2007.