Compal Proves Taiwan's No. 1 NB Contract Maker in April

Taipei, May 12, 2009 (CENS)--Compal Electronics Inc. shipped 2.7 million units of notebook computers (NBs) in April, outstripping Quanta Computer Inc. as Taiwan's largest NB contract manufacturer.

Quanta saw shipments of NBs slide to 2.3 million units in April from March's 2.8 million. The company scored NT$55.166 billion (US$1.67 billion at US$1:NT$33) in combined sales in April, down 13% from the preceding month.

Of Taiwan's four-largest electronics manufacturers, including Compal, Quanta, Acer Inc. and Asustek Computer Inc. (another leading manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry hasn't yet released its financial statement), Compal was the best performer by posting NT$43.77 billion (US$1.32 billion) in sales in April, down 1.5% from last month but up a shining 43% year-on-year.

Acer posted NT$29.5 billion (US$893.93 million) in non-combined sales in April, down 30% from the preceding month and up 4.2% year-on-year. The company scored NT$124.58 billion (US$3.77 billion) in combined sales in the first four months of this year, up 8% year-on-year.

Asustek posted NT$15.4 billion (US$466.66 million) in sales in April, down 17% from the preceding month. The company said it would begin shipping new models of "Eee" PCs from the middle of May, leading to the sluggish demand for its old models sold in April.

In terms of consolidated sales, Asustek's sales performance in April was the same as the preceding month. The company has set a goal of shipping 4.5 million units of motherboards and 900,000 up to 1.1 million units of NBs in the second quarter of this year.

Quanta said it shipped 2.3 million units of NBs in April. The company posted NT$55.166 billion (US$1.67 billion) in combined sales in April, down 13% from the preceding month and sliding 24.95% year-on-year. The company had NT$201.31 billion (US$6.1 billion) in combined sales in the first four months of this year, down 25% year-on-year.

Despite the sales downturn in the first four months, Quanta is confident that it would see sales rebound in the third quarter of this year as it would begin shipping most the new NBs to Hewlett Packard beginning from that quarter. The company has set a goal to ship 36.5 million units of NBs this year, a small growth from last year.