Sony, Blu-ray Disc technology’s chief proponent, has opened a Blu-ray production facility in Shanghai. It’s Sony’s fourth Blu-ray plant globally.
The new 130,000-sq. ft. operation will be capable of producing about half a million discs monthly, although Sony did not say what its planned output will be in the near term.
The factory, Sony’s first Blu-ray facility inside China, is a joint venture with Shanghai Media Group, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Both firms teamed up several years ago to produce standard DVDs.
The Sony factory has received some of its initial disc orders from a well-known Hollywood studio—Sony Pictures. Despite China’s longtime problem of pirated media, Sony Pictures was the first to release some its Blu-ray titles (produced elsewhere) in China. A major Chinese film distributor, Guangdong Zoke Culture Development Co., also will use Sony’s new plant for production needs.
A fifth Sony Blu-ray facility is expected to open in late 2009 in New Jersey.
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