Laptop makers urged to adopt Chinese rules

The nation's notebook makers have no choice but to comply with China's new standard for encrypting wireless communications, industry watchers said yesterday.

The standard is set to be adopted in June.

"China is expected to become the largest [personal computer] market in the next 10 years thanks to increases in the nation's GNP," said Joseph Lee (李強), a researcher at the Taipei-based Topology Research Institute (拓墣產業研究所).

Taiwan's notebook makers cannot afford to lose their position in the emerging Chinese market, he said.

"The nation's laptop manufacturers have no choice but to conform to the new wireless communication standard that China is determined to establish," Lee said.

China is developing its own wireless communications standard, called WAPI, or wireless authentication and privacy infrastructure, as the government encourages domestic manufacturers to expand.

Incompatible

Intel Corp's Centrino notebook chip, which allows mobile wireless computing, is not compatible with WAPI. The company is discussing the issue with Chinese officials.

Laptops integrated with wireless LAN are expected to account for 40 percent to 50 percent of China's portable personal computers this year. The ratio may rise to 70 percent to 80 percent next year, according to an estimate by Topology.

"China's government agencies and school users will remain the driving force for the nation's wireless computing this year," Lee said.

Acer Inc said it had formulated solutions for its laptops to comply with the new standard in the face of the June deadline, Kitty Fok (霍錦潔), vice president of the central research group at IDC Asia Pacific, said last week.

The company's move would create great opportunities for its business expansion in China, Fok said.

Lee agreed, saying Taiwan's notebook makers could turn to Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) for chipsets enabling mobile computing in compliance with WAPI before Intel launches a next-generation Centrino that conforms with China's new standard.

BenQ Corp (明基電通), which expects to become the sixth or seventh-largest vendor with sales of around 100,000 notebooks this year, has announced that it would introduce laptops supporting the standard after June.

BenQ senior product manager Su Chia-hung (蘇家弘) was not available for comment.

Ties with Intel

Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), the ninth-largest notebook brand in China with sales of 61,000 portable computers last year, downplayed its move in this regard due to its close relations with Intel as an original equipment manufacturer of the company's Centrino WLAN module.

"We are still waiting and seeing how things go," said Sunny Han (韓德行), Asustek's global brand marketing director.

The company has no plan to develop WAPI-compatible products so far, as Intel was still engaged in talks with the government on the possibility of postponing the June implementation, Han said.