 The company, named Sony NEC Optiarc, focused on manufacturing optical disk drives primarily for the OEM desktop and notebook PC markets.On September 11, 2008, it was announced that Sony would take over NEC's 45% share, making Optiarc a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony, to be called Sony Optiarc.This took effect on December 5, 2008

In March 2013, Sony closed its Optiarc optical disc drive division, laying off about 400 employees globally.