Quanta, Compal to grab 50% of global NB market

Quanta Computer Inc. and Compal Electronics Inc., Taiwan's top-two manufacturers of notebook (NB) personal computers, will account for more than half of the world's total production of NBs in 2006.

Global shipment of NBs is estimated to reach more than 75 million units this year. Both Quanta and Compal are expected to ship 40 million NBs this year, which shows that production is tilting toward large-sized manufacturers.

At present, Taiwan accounts for approximately 90% of the world's total production of NBs, and the consolidation of brands and manufacturing for NBs is increasing. For instance, Quanta and Compal are estimated to have shipped 18 million and 10 million NBs, respectively, in 2005. Based on worldwide consumption of 60 million new NBs last year, Quanta and Compal combined supplied almost half of the worldwide demand.

Quanta plans to ship 25 million NBs in 2006, and Compal has set a goal of shipping 15 million units. They both claim that they will see a 30% year-on-year growth in shipment of the products this year. However, despite the substantial growth in shipments, Compal anticipated it would see but small growth in annual sales this year, as the price tag for NBs is dwindling.

Quanta and Compal saw shipments hit all-time highs in November last year. With the anticipated high growth in global shipments of NBs, both companies look likely to continue to see high sales this year.

Quanta and Compal currently rank first and second worldwide, respectively, in terms of NBs manufactured. They have a highly overlapped in customer base. For instance, their big customers include the world's top-five NB brands: Dell, Hewlett Packard, Acer, Toshiba, and the new Lenovo.

An industry insider noted that the world's top-10 brands account for more than 80% of the supply for the global NB market. This concentration has induced the big brands to cultivate more contract manufacturers around the world to disperse their operating risks. In this way, the big names have maintained close relations with domestic contract manufacturers, which, aside from Quanta and Compal, include Wistron Corp., Inventec Corp., and Weaso Computer Inc.

source & copyright: CENS