Acer Inc, the world's third-largest personal computer maker, said yesterday that the company plans to merge with a smaller firm in a bid to keep its momentum going.
The deal is expected to be concluded within the next "three to five months," Acer chairman Wang Jeng-tang (
Wang didn't provide any more details about the possible acquisition target, saying only that it was not a US company.
Industry speculation is that Acer intends to purchase one of its smaller rivals, such as the US' Gateway or Japan's Fujitsu, to boost its scale in the PC market as the company is expecting PC shipments to continue their strong momentum throughout the year.
"Our shipments will rise by 30 percent to 40 percent over the next few quarters," Wang said on the sidelines of the investor conference.
The solid shipments are attributed to Microsoft Corp's Vista operating system, which will fuel more demand in the second half, as well as continued success in all markets, including the US and China, he added.
During the first quarter, Acer surpassed Lenovo Group Ltd (
Hewlett-Packard (HP) Co, the world's largest PC maker, posted the second highest growth at 28.7 percent.
"Europe, the Middle East and Africa [EMEA], the US and Asia contributed to the better than expected sales in the first quarter," Wang said.
He said he foresaw rosier prospects for the second half, a traditionally busier period for Acer in terms of PC shipments thanks to demand in EMEA and the US.
"Acer is going to shorten the gap with No. 2 maker Dell Inc, though it will not overtake it this year. It may buy a distributor channel in the US to facilitate its foothold in that market," said Jeff Chen (陳建甫), an analyst with DRAMeXchange Tech Inc (集邦科技).
The company's recent aggressive expansion in the US -- its second-largest market contributing 23 percent of all sales -- has attracted the attention of its rivals.
HP this month filed its second lawsuit within a month against the Taiwanese maker, claiming its computers infringed upon five HP patents.
The litigation seeks to stop Acer from selling some desktop computers, notebooks, media centers and related products for home and business use in the US, plus cash compensation.
"This is another dimension of business competition, which is inevitable after we moved up to the No. 3 position," Wang said.
He said Acer would analyze HP's infringement claims, and seek support from the contract manufacturing suppliers that Acer purchases its computers from.
In a related development, Acer has joined other PC makers by recalling 27,000 notebook batteries in the US and Canada, citing the possibility of a fire hazard caused by overheating.
"The batteries are made by Sony Energy Devices Corp and it will be responsible for the recall fee," Wang said.
Acer posted a 41 percent gain in first-quarter profit on Thursday, which rose to NT$5.66 billion (US$170 million), or NT$2.47 a share, from NT$4.02 billion, or NT$1.82 a share, a year ago.
Its shares closed up 0.15 percent to NT$65 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
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