en.Wedoany.com Reported - Sony has invested 30 million euros (approximately $34 million) to convert its PlayStation disc factory in Thalgau, Salzburg, Austria, into a production base for optical micro-lenses. This transformation is part of Sony's plan to completely cease production of disc-based PlayStation games starting January 2028.

The primary manufacturer of PlayStation game discs is Sony Digital Audio Disc Corporation (DADC), whose headquarters are located at the Thalgau plant. DADC management revealed to ORF Salzburg that the factory conversion has been underway for some time, but employees were officially informed only on July 1. Optical micro-lenses, which can manipulate light, are widely used in camera sensors, AR/VR headsets, fiber optic networks, and medical devices. As noted by The Verge, the Thalgau plant is not only one of Sony's disc manufacturing facilities but also the headquarters of DADC.

The Thalgau plant currently produces 600,000 discs per day, half of which are for PlayStation games. Sony DADC CEO Dietmar Tanzer expects disc production at the plant to drop to 10% of current levels by 2028. DADC previously operated a large manufacturing facility in Terre Haute, Indiana, USA, which ran from 1983 until its closure in 2022, producing a total of 23 billion discs. Since then, DADC has produced an additional 3.4 billion discs.

Tanzer stated that the company plans to retain the current 300 employees at the Thalgau plant and will retrain them for optical micro-lens production. Sony aims to start production of optical micro-lenses as early as next year.