Inventec Corp (英業達), the nation's No.4 laptop computer maker, is expected to see a spike in shipments this year on news that Japan's Toshiba Corp may accelerate outsourcing to Taiwanese manufacturers, analysts said yesterday.
"Inventec will be the biggest beneficiary by grabbing a bigger portion of increased orders than rival Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦) if Toshiba picks up its outsourcing at a faster pace," said Grace Chen (陳星嘉), a computer-industry analyst with Insight Paci-fic Investment Research (月涵投顧).
In an effort to cut production costs, Toshiba, the world's No.3 maker of laptop computers after Dell and Hewlett-Packard Co, plans to move all production of notebook computers to its factory in Hangzhou, China, next year and to increase outsourcing to Taiwanese manufacturers, the Nikkei English News reported yesterday.
Toshiba has already increased its notebook-computer orders to Taiwanese computer original-equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to more than 30 percent of its total computer shipments this year from approximately 15 percent in previous years, Chen said.
She said that Inventec was likely to see shipment surge to around 3 million units this year, up from 1.5 million last year, thanks to new orders from US computer giant Dell Inc.
"But a falling gross margin remains a key issue for local computer makers, including Inventec," she warned.
Compal's gross margin already declined to below the bellwether 10 percent in the fourth quarter last year, according to company officials.
Another analyst said Toshiba's decision was somewhat belated since it had already lost its top position to Dell and HP, which farmed out the bulk of their production to Taiwanese PC contract makers a long time ago.
To cater to the market's need for diversified PC models and greater flexibility of product launches, international computer vendors are joining the global trend of collaborating with OEMs to boost product lineup and cut costs, said Steven Tseng (
Tseng said Compal and Inventec will remain the major notebook-computer suppliers for Toshiba.
"I don't see a third supplier jumping up to take a share of the pie," he said.
Compared to Inventec's steep rise in shipments, Compal, Toshiba's long-term contract partner, told investors in February that it expected shipments to rise to 8 million units, up 45 percent from the 5.5 million shipped last year.
Inventec shares rose by 1.82 percent, or NT$0.4, to end at NT$22.4 on the TAIEX yesterday.
Shares Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) dropped 0.64 percent to NT$77.5.
Compal lost 2.29 percent to close at NT$42.60.
During the slow first quarter, Inventec posted higher sales at NT$27.66 billion, up 15 percent from NT$24.1 billion in the peak fourth quarter last year. That represents about a 46 percent increase from the NT$19 billion in sales in the same period a year ago.
Looking ahead, Inventec is expected to enjoy a gradual growth in sales during the current quarter, Tseng said.
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