Tue, Feb 02, 2010 page12

• Asian companies hope to benefit from iPad boom

  • By Francis Huang / AFP
  • • Add TT as Preferred Source
    • 
    • 
    • 

  The iPad may have been designed in the US, but Apple’s money-spinning products are manufactured in the high-tech factories of East Asia.

  If the new tablet computer follows the iPhone and iPod by capturing the imagination of consumers around the globe, component makers in Taiwan, China and South Korea will reap the benefits.

  “The iPad is likely to stimulate global demand for high-tech products and components,” said James Chen (陳政慧), a vice president at Taiwan-based display and touch panel maker Wintek Corp (勝華).

  Confidentiality pacts between Apple and its suppliers means no company is willing to openly discuss who does what, but analysts are free to make informed guesses.

  Wintek is widely seen as a likely supplier of iPad parts, although Chen declined to either confirm or deny the company’s involvement.

  The new touchscreen device, which was unveiled last Wednesday, seeks to establish an entire new category between laptop and smartphone, but it does so by combining well-known components, most of them produced in Asia.

  While the touchscreens are widely thought to be made by firms like Wintek, the chips are likely to come from companies such as Japan’s Toshiba Corp and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co.

  South Korea’s LG Display Co is named as a probable supplier of the displays, while Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a veteran Apple supplier, is believed to be in charge of assembly.

  “In Taiwan, I expect Hon Hai will become the biggest beneficiary of Apple’s iPad,” said Mars Hsu, a Taipei-based analyst with Grand Cathay Securities Co (大華證券).

  Hon Hai Precision was not immediately available for comment.

  However, an official at Innolux Display Corp (群創光電), Hon Hai Precision’s flat panel manufacturing arm, said on condition of anonymity that the company would try its best to team up with Apple in the production of the iPad.

  Meanwhile, Simplo Technology Co (新普科技) and Dynapack International Technology Corp (順達科技), both of Taiwan, have been major battery pack providers for Apple in the past, and they could maintain their role, Capital Securities Corp (群益證券) said in a report.

  “They’ve already served as component suppliers to Apple’s iPhone. That means they’ve reached economies of scale and enjoy cost advantages,” Taiwan International Securities Corp (金鼎證券) analyst Michael Chiang said.

  But on the big question — how much money the iPad will make for the suppliers — the jury is still out.

  An official with South Korea’s LG Display said the latest Apple device was likely to revitalize the market as a whole.

  “The iPad will help increase demand for new components,” he said on condition of anonymity.

  Another optimist was Taiwan-based Topology Research Institute (拓璞產業研究所), which this week raised its forecast for iPad sales this year to 7 million units from 5 million previously.

  In a statement, Topology said it based its higher forecast on iPad’s pricing strategy, with the cheapest version costing as little as US$499.

  However, TLG Asset Management (台壽保投信) analyst Arch Shih (施博元) said it was too early to say how much iPad would do to lift contract makers’ profitability.

  Shih said further volatility in US securities markets threatening to spill over into the real economy.

  “A market pullback could impact global demand for high-tech products. At the moment, I’m cautious about iPad sales,” Shih said.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Taiwan takes gold at Physics Olympiad

  • 2

    FIFA shoots down England goal speculation

  • 3

    Taiwan and US to jointly produce drone, source says

  • 4

    China aims to woo teachers with Xinjiang trips

  • 5

    Marines join Taipei defense exercise