Cheng Uei Lands Big Orders for Parts in New iPhone

Taipei, July 15, 2008 (CENS)--Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co., a Taiwanese supplier of electronics parts, has won a big order for eight kinds of inner and outer parts for Apple's new iPhone, which is expected to pump significant growth into the firm's third-quarter revenue, according to company sources.

In addition to orders from Apple, Cheng Uei has teamed up with Microsoft Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. to develop camera modules for notebook PCs and desktop models, and is scheduled to start delivery of such products to HP in the third quarter of this year. The new camera modules will also be installed in ODM (original design manufacturer) mobile phones, with annual shipment of 8 million units.

Apple has officially launched its 3G iPhone worldwide and projected single-month sales of the product to reach about 3 million units on average. Wide popularity of iPhone has forced the brand to secure steady supply of related parts and components.

Industry insiders said that a "no-commitment" or no-contract 3G iPhone sells for US$599, bringing considerable profit for both Apple and its contract parts suppliers, who, according to some, would be challenged to meet Apple's strict requirement for on-time and exact delivery.

Gou Tai-chiang, chairman of Cheng Uei, noted that his company is expected to see a whopping growth of 50% in sales revenue for the second half of this year from the first half, due mainly to the new order, while institutional investors also expected the firm's third-quarter revenue to grow 40% from the second quarter. In fact, Cheng Uei has been on Apple's key supplier list for a long time, supplying connectors, cables and peripheral parts for use in iPod.

In addition to Cheng Uei, its counterpart Advanced Connectek Inc. has also won orders from Apple to produce two items for the iPhone, namely antenna and connector.