Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world's largest laptop computer maker on contract basis, expects shipments to grow 10 percent in the next quarter, rebounding from the seasonally slack first quarter, a company executive said yesterday.
"The second quarter will be a better period than the first," Quanta vice chairman C.C. Leung (梁次震) told reporters on the sideline of a ceremony for a WiMAX partnership with Alcatel-Lucent.
Quanta, whose customers include Acer Inc and Hewlett Packard Co, could ship 8.46 million notebook computers during the January to March period, from 9.4 million units last quarter.
Growing concern over the US subprime mortgage crisis should not upset the upward momentum for the notebook computer industry, Liang said.
"Demand should be sustainable as laptops have much stronger performance and are not just a PC anymore. People play games, watch movies, or do other things on notebooks," Leung said.
"It will grow. What we are not sure of is whether the business will grow 25 percent or 30 percent [annually,]" he said.
Quanta retained its shipment projection for this year, during which it expects to ship at least 20 percent more laptops, or about 39 million units, this year than the 32 million units sold last year, Leung said.
Quanta shares rose 2.3 percent to NT$40.1 yesterday.
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