The end of the physical disc: Sony converts its manufacturing plant

The transformation of the Thalgau site represents the latest step in a progressive downsizing of Sony’s global manufacturing capacity in the physical media sector. In past decades, the company also managed important plants in the United States, located in New Jersey and Terre Haute, Indiana. The closure of the New Jersey location in 2011 and the subsequent relocation of the assembly lines from Indiana to Austria, completed in 2022, had already centralized remaining operations in Thalgau, the only wholly owned manufacturing facility that remained active. The former US plant has instead changed its core business, now dedicating itself to the packaging and assembly of components for the automotive industry.

The technological transition towards micro-optics is based on an industrial strategy already underway and on a financial allocation of 30 million euros. The reconversion process partially exploits pre-existing machinery, since the production of the new microlenses takes place through matrices derived from the discs themselves, allowing the integration of dozens of optical components on a single support. The company plans include the start of mass production in the short term, consolidating the gradual abandonment of the physical video game market in favor of alternative technological segments with high added value.