"The Taiwanese optical disk drive industry's heavy dependence on the Chinese market is the chief instigator of the shipment value decline," the report said. "Including built-in and add-on drives, China accounts for roughly 50 percent of Taiwanese shipments. The rapid spread of SARS through southern and northern China since April has cleared PC store floors of shoppers, causing optical disk-drive demand to taper off," it said.
PCs with built-in drives are expected to see a 16.7 percent sales decline in China, and add-on drives are forecasted to witness a 30 percent drop, the report said.
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