They seem to have skipped 12x. Oh well.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced that they have completed development of a high output semiconductor laser for writing DVDs at 12-16x speeds, dubbed the "ML1XX23 Series." They will being mass production in January of 2004 with 100,000 units per month. Also, they plan o­n expanding their high output semiconductor laser production output from 3,500,000 units per month to 5,000,000 units per month, by the end of March 2004.

The ML1XX23 Series is a high output semiconductor 200mW red laser. It supports DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM, et. al DVD equipment standards.

By improving upon some of the kinks to DVD writing (light output, electric current movement causing unstraight lines), and using edge surface structures and ridge structures, it has become possible to write DVDs at 12-16x speeds.

The maximum operating temperature is 75 degrees Celsius. Since there has been a miniturization of parts such as the light pickup module to a highly dense package, this should not propose much of a problem.

Original Article:
 http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20031225/mitsu.htm

News Release:
http://www.mitsubishielectric.co.jp/news/2003/1224-a.htm