Camera and image equipment maker Olympus Optical Co. Ltd. said it aimed to double annual production capacity next year to two million units at a factory in China.

"We see growing popularity for digital cameras in Asia, America, Europe and also Japan," said Olympus spokesman Yoshiaki Yamada, adding the firm would consider further capital investment, depending on the rise in production.

Olympus also makes digital cameras in Japan, but output capacity at home would remain at 400,000 units, the same as this year, Yamada said.

Rival Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. will increase its annual digital camera production capacity in Indonesia and China two-fold to six million units during the first half of next year.

"We see a rise in global demand and our factories in Japan, Korea, China and Indonesia see this pick-up," said a Sanyo spokesman.

"China has a very good infrastructure for the procurement of parts and low cost production. We can keep up with the global demand we are seeing and stay more competitive," he said.

Sanyo aims to sell 13 million digital cameras next year to March 2004, almost double the 6.3 million units forecast for this financial year, said the head of Sanyo's multimedia division, Ejii Kotobuki.

"The reason why we have such success with our digital cameras is because we've combined our semi-conductor technology with our optical technology, and that made sure we hit the ground running," he said.

Sanyo has a 30 percent share of the worldwide digital camera production market on an original equipment manufacturing basis.

Camera and office equipment maker Canon Inc. is also doubling the annual capacity of a digital camera factory in Malaysia to 2.4 million units next year.

"The product is (popular) and we think demand will continue to rise," said Canon spokesman Takafumi Koga.

Canon's production capacity next calendar year is expected to hit 7.5 million units, up sharply from 4.5 million units in 2002.

The company also plans to produce 600,000 digital cameras a year at a printer plant in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong starting next April, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper reported.

But Koga said the figure was speculative.

Japan's digital camera makers forecast global shipments this calendar year of 23 million units, while shipments next year are expected to exceed 30 million, the Nihon Keizai said.

In the first nine months of 2002, shipments in Japan totaled 4.37 million units, up 33 percent from a year earlier, and those in North America rose 44 percent to 5.33 million, the financial daily reported.

Shipments in Europe jumped 78 percent to 4.18 million, while those in the rest of Asia and other areas soared 130 percent to 1.82 million units, it said.

SPACE.WIRE