Inventec Co (英業達), the world's third-largest maker of notebook computers, said its shipments to Toshiba Corp will triple this year as the Japanese company moves production to outside manufacturers.
Deliveries from the company to Japan's largest laptop PC maker will rise to about 1 million units from 300,000 last year, Alexander Hsu (徐信群), Inventec's vice president of finance, said in an interview.
Toshiba last month said it will shift more than half its PC output outside Japan to restore profitability in the business year ending March. Inventec said it expects to share about half of the new Toshiba orders this year with Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), the world's second-largest notebook computer maker.
"Demand for notebook computers will do well in the second quarter," said Michael Ding (丁予嘉), the president of Fubon Asset Management (富邦投顧). "Inventec is proving they're still in the market and very competitive."
Inventec's sales in the first four months this year rose by 56 percent to NT$37.8 billion (US$1.1 billion), based on monthly reports the company files to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Shipments of notebook computers will rise by a third in the second quarter, helped by new processors introduced by Intel Corp, the Market Intelligence Center (市場情報中心) said.
Notebook PC deliveries will increase to 7.5 million units from 5.6 million in the same quarter last year, according to a report by the government-funded researcher. First-quarter shipments gained by a third to 6.8 million units, the center said.
Shares of Inventec shares rose 1.9 percent to NT$21.90. Compal shares gained 3 percent to NT$41.
Toshiba's suppliers are well known, company spokeswoman Midori Suzuki said, without providing details. The company increased its outsourced orders to 30 percent from 20 percent by the end of March, she said.
"Our shipments to Toshiba will jump in June," Hsu said.
Toshiba's contribution to Inventec's sales this year will rise to 25 percent from about 15 percent, Hsu said. Inventec also recently got new orders from BenQ Corp (明基電通), he said.
Toshiba dropped from the ranks of the world's five largest notebook PC makers in the first quarter this year, according to market researcher IDC. Toshiba said it will focus on its flat-screen television business to improve profitability.
Inventec said its first-quarter gross margin for notebook PCs was less than 5 percent, lagging a margin of 5.8 percent for all its products.
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