Compal to Ship 35M Notebook PCs This Year

The notebook PC industry is expected to take off in the second half, while Compal Electronics Inc, a major contract maker of notebook PCs in Taiwan, is expected to ship 35 million units this year, according to the company`s President Ray Chen.

However, Chen said at Compal`s shareholder meeting recently, the heating-up notebook PC market would intensify contract makers' price-cutting competition. But he warned that low price competition for next year`s orders from international brands would be very risky because prices of many key materials such as copper, crude oil etc. would hike next year due to the recovering demand.

In conjunction with the gradually recovering global economic conditions, Chen said, the notebook PC business would get better and better.

According to Chen`s forecast, Compal`s operation growth will be higher than the overall market average in this and next years. The company originally estimated to report a 10 to 15 percent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) shipment growth in the third quarter, but the real rate would be 20 percent or even higher thanks to the recovering European demand, Chen said.

The president is very optimistic about the global notebook PC market. He forecasted totaled global notebook PC shipments would reach 150 million units this year, and the volume is expected to further increase to 175 million to 180 million units in 2010 at a 15 to 20 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase.

Compal reported profit margin of 6.4 percent for the second quarter, the same level as first quarter`s. Chen said the third-quarter figure would maintain the same level. The president stressed that sales of business notebook PC models have begun recovering in the second half and a strong demand is expected to emerge in the second half of 2010 due to the replacement purchases.

Source: CENS