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HP keen on Taiwan as LCD source

"A big potion of LCD displays used for HP laptop computers will come from local companies."

Rosemary Ho, HP Taiwan's managing director

Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) said yesterday Taiwanese flat-panel makers will be the company's biggest providers of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels used for notebook computers and new consumer electronics this year.

AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管) are among HP's local panel suppliers, while LG Electronics Inc of South Korea also provides HP with LCD panels, according to Ho.

"As Taiwanese companies have great [production] flexibility, a big portion of LCD displays used for HP laptop computers will come from local companies," Rosemary Ho (何薇玲), HP Taiwan's managing director, told reporters at an annual press conference yesterday. said.

After having developed a close relationship with domestic suppliers over the past few years, HP is already the biggest buyer of electronic goods from Taiwanese companies among foreign high-tech companies with procurement offices in the country.

The US computer giant was expected to purchase about US$15.5 billion-US$16.5 billion worth of Taiwan-made goods last year, up nearly 10 percent from 2002, according to preliminary figures from the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Dell Inc and Sony Corp will be the second-largest and third-largest, purchasing about US$6 billion-US$7 billion and US$4 billion-US$5 billion last year, respectively, the ministry said.

The ministry is scheduled to release a final report on international procurement offices' purchases of local electronics later this month.

The procurement offices of foreign companies were expected to buy a total of some US$49 billion worth of electronics last year, up 13 percent from US$43 billion the previous year.

A ministry official, who requested anonymity, said HP is likely to increase its orders from domestic companies by about 11.9 percent this year, a similar growth rate with that of Taiwan's hardware production value during the same period.

The semi-official Marketing Intelligence Center (資策會) predicted in November that the hardware production of Taiwan's information technology sector is expected to enjoy 11.9-percent growth this year to around US$47.8 billion.

Ho said the Taiwan branch of HP is expected to see annual revenue grow at least triple the nation's rate of GDP growth this year, buoyed by higher domestic laptop computer shipments and improvements in other business area.

That means HP Taiwan's revenue growth should be about 13 percent this year, compared with the government's forecast of 4.13 percent economic growth.
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