Sony Invests $34 Million to Repurpose PlayStation Disc Factory in Austria
Sony has invested €30 million ($34 million) to convert its disc manufacturing plant in Thalgau, Austria, into an optical microlens facility, as part of the shift toward digital PlayStation game distribution.
Sony is preparing for the end of disc-based PlayStation games by converting its factory in Thalgau, Salzburg, Austria. According to a report by ORF Salzburg, Sony has already invested €30 million ($34 million) to repurpose the facility into a plant for optical microlenses. The changes have been in the works for some time, but management informed workers on July 1, the same day Sony announced that PlayStation will go fully digital starting in January 2028.
The Thalgau plant currently produces 600,000 discs daily, half of which are PlayStation games. Sony DADC CEO Dietmar Tanzer expects disc production to drop to 10 percent of current levels by 2028. Optical microlenses are used in camera sensors, AR/VR headsets, fiber optic networks, and medical devices.
The facility is the headquarters of Sony DADC. Previously, DADC operated a massive plant in Terre Haute, Indiana, which produced 23 billion discs from 1983 until its closure in 2022. Since then, an additional 3.4 billion discs have been manufactured. Sony plans to retain all 300 employees at the Thalgau plant and retrain them for microlens production, which is expected to begin as early as next year.
