Pegatron Likely to Snap Up Apple's Order for Macbook Air

Having been contracted by Apple Inc. to assemble iPhone and iPad Mini, Pegatron Corp., an EMS provider in Taiwan, has reportedly kicked off trial production of Macbook Air, and is likely to snap up an order for the laptops for sale in 2013, according to industry sources.

Since receiving Apple's order for iPhone to effectively improve its business performance at the end of last year, Pegatron has actively boosted its business ties with Apple this year. The efforts have paid off obviously, as the manufacture has landed the customer's another order for iPad Mini to share the business pie with its Taiwanese counterpart, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.

While basking in the ongoing prosperity on business with Apple, Pegatron is recently said to have started trial production of Macbook Air, ready to deliver to the customer at small qualities to vie for a larger volume of orders for the products in 2013.

Topology Research Institute (TRI), a Taiwan-based market researcher, has predicted Pegatron to supply 18% of Apple's laptops in 2013, with Macbook Air to make up the majority of the supply volume, while Quanta Computer Inc., which has garnered orders for Macbook Air and Macbook Pro, and Hon Hai, which is contracted to produce Macbook Pro, will command a 64% and 18% share, respectively, of the total. TRI forecasts Apple's laptop shipment in 2013 to reach 16.5 million units for a 17% increase over 2012.

However, while Pegatron declines to comment its pursuit of contract assembly of Macbook Air, some laptop housing and hedge suppliers involved in the supply chain said that they have no idea about the Taiwanese manufacturer already receiving Apple's order for the product. They added that whether Pegatron can squeeze into the supply chain remains to be seen, for the company still has to improve its yield rate of output of Macbook Air, which has more complicated structure than ordinary laptops.

From another view point, Pegatron, some said, is unlikely to join the supply chain of Macbook Air at present, unless Apple probably needs to add a new contract supplier at a time point when its Macbook sales exceeds 20 million in the future.

Apple's Sales Forecasts in 2012

Product	Sales Volume Forecast	Contract Manufacturer
iPhone	130-140 million units	Hon Hai Precision, Pegatron
iPad	63-64 million units	Hon Hai Precision
iPad Mini	8-10 million units	Hon Hai Precision, Pegatron
Macbook	14-15 million units	Quanta, Hon Hai Precision

Source: institutional investors

Source & copyright: CENS