By Paul Kunert
8 July 2008
Three of the world’s largest original design manufacturers (ODMs) Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics and Wistron have predicted 15 to 20 per cent growth in sales this quarter, defying gloomy predictions in the global economy.
The firms manufacture the majority of the world’s mobile PCs for tier one brands including Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Acer and according to reports in Taiwan are expecting healthy volumes to continue.
In the first half of the year Quanta shipped 16 million notebooks – 8 and 8.7 million in the first and second quarters respectively - and a spokesman said it was confident of meeting its annual goal of shipping 40 million units.
Wistron sold 4.3 million notebooks in the first quarter followed by 4.7 million last quarter and along with rival Compal expected to achieve 15 to 20 per cent growth this year.
According to IDC analyst predictions the notebook market is set to expand 35.5 per cent this year as the desktop space contracts but tough competition in the sector could see average sales prices fall by up to 8.3 per cent.
