eTurboTouch Technology Inc (宇辰光電), which makes touch panels used in Hewlett-Packard Co’s TouchSmart tablet PCs, is set to trade its shares on the local emerging market tomorrow to raise funds for capacity expansion.
The company’s investor conference yesterday was a full house, with investors looking for potential investment targets related to the touch-panel supply chain as the sales of Microsoft Corp’s new Windows 7 operating system fueled demand for new all-in-one PCs outfitted with touch screens.
LEAD
Because of a high technological threshold, eTurboTouch is one of just a few Taiwanese manufacturers capable of making a large volume of PC touch panels.
The company, established in 2007, is scheduled to trade its shares on the Emerging Stock Market at NT$40 (US$1.26) per share. It has 26 million capital shares.
“Since the launch of Microsoft’s new system in October, the use of touch panels has extended from mobile phones to computers for mass consumers,” eTurboTouch president Wang Kui-ching (王貴璟) said yesterday.
“Forecasts from our customers give us confidence that demand for all-in-one PCs will be strong and growth will be significant as more first-tier PC makers are more certain about this market and plan to roll out new models this year,” Wang said.
HP, Acer Inc (宏碁) and Dell Inc, the world’s three largest PC makers, are all using touch panels manufactured by eTurboTouch, the company said.
The all-in-one PC market is expected to double its size to 12 million units this year, from 6 million units last year, eTurboTouch said, citing unspecified sources.
EXPANSION
To match growing demand, the Taoyuan-based company intends to at least double capacity of its PC touch panels as well as build new production lines to manufacture touch screens used in e-books and handsets, Wang said.
In addition, the company will sell new shares later this year to raise more funds for capacity expansion and operations.
eTurboTouch made more than 50 percent of its NT$300 million revenues from touch screens for all-in-one PCs last year, shifting from industrial PC and ATM touch screens, it said.
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