Sony, NEC to form optical disk drive joint venture

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese electronics makers Sony and NEC said on Thursday they have reached a basic agreement to set up a optical disk drive joint venture.

Sony and NEC plan to transfer their optical disk drive businesses to a new entity, which aims to start operations on April 1, 2006.

The new venture will develop and manufacture DVD drives and CD drives used in PCs and other products.

Sony will hold 55 percent stake in the venture, and NEC the rest.

Sales of the two firms' optical disk drive businesses totalled about 220 billion yen (US$1.85 billion) in the business year ended in March.

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