IBM outsources 12.1-inch ThinkPad X notebook production to Wistron

IBM has recently released orders for the production of its 12.1-inch ThinkPad X notebooks to Taiwan-based Wistron, which expects to start the shipments at the end of this year or in early 2004, sources said. Initial monthly shipments are estimated at about 30,000 units. Both IBM and Wistron declined to comment on the report. Although IBM has had significant amounts of its notebooks manufactured by Taiwanese companies over the years, this is the first time that the computer giant has released production of the high-end, slim-type ThinkPad X notebooks to a local notebook company. Currently, the notebooks are manufactured by IBM Japan, sources said. The new orders are a significant step for the Taiwan notebook industry, as Japan has long been the major production site for high-end, slim-type notebooks, which account for about 30% of the global notebook market. Wistron, which has been producing ThinkPad R notebooks for IBM, is expected to get extensive support from IBM Japan for the new orders, sources said. Until now, IBM has outsourced only 30-40% of its notebook production. Taiwan manufactures about 700,000-800,000 notebooks a year for the brand company. In addition to Wistron, Quanta Computer is the other Taiwanese notebook contract maker for IBM, supplying the ThinkPad G notebooks, sources said. IBM’s total annual notebook sales have not been growing with the global notebook market, stalling at 2.8 million units over the past two or three years, sources said. Compared with some of its peers, the company has experienced comparatively high costs on PC hardware development and production, according to some local notebook component suppliers. In addition, the computer giant is comparatively slow in reacting to market trends, the suppliers said. In one example, IBM was the last one among the top five vendors worldwide to provide desktop-CPU notebooks, they said. In response, IBM stressed that it has been dedicated to notebook-related technology development and has been focusing on mobile CPU notebooks rather than models using desktop processors. Source: DigiTimes