Intel upbeat on ultra-thin laptop growth

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Chip maker Intel Corp (INTC.O) sees solid global consumer sales of laptop PCs and expects its new processors to put it in good stead in a likely boom in the ultra-thin laptop segment.

"The overall trend in the consumer space continues to be reasonably positive," Navin Shenoy, Intel's general manager in the Asia-Pacific region, told Reuters on the sidelines of the world's second-biggest PC fair.

"If you look at consumer notebook sales now, it continues to be solid. The commercial market is a bit more challenging," Shenoy said in an interview.

"In the next six months, I think the (growth) momentum will be particularly strong in the ultra-thin laptop segment," said Shenoy. "This is what consumers want," he said, adding 70 to 80 new ultra-thin models would hit store shelves before the Christmas buying spree.

"I think you are going to see demand in the maturer economies in the U.S., Western Europe, but I also think you are going to see demand from Asia."

At the Computex trade show this week, Taiwan's Acer (2353.TW), Asustek (2357.TW) and Microstar (2377.TW) showcased a line of new-generation laptop PCs, powered by Intel's newly launched ultra-low voltage (CULV) processors.

Intel and the PC vendors expect the slimmer laptops to fit the space between low-cost netbooks and traditional notebooks, pumping fresh life into the on-the-go computing world.

Major PC vendors are jumping into the ultraportable category to compete with Apple Inc (AAPL.O), hoping to persuade consumers to buy laptops like Apple's ultra-thin MacBook Air at less than half the price but with better processing power, bigger screens and longer battery life than netbooks.

"You have to continue to upgrade and Intel is a company doing that," Shenoy said. "We are excited about the new technology coming to the market now. As the economy continues to improve, we are going to be well positioned to capitalize."

However, Shenoy still sees huge growth potential in the netbook market, as just 6 percent of people buy netbooks as their primary PC while 77 percent buy them as companion devices to existing PCs.

(Reporting by Baker Li, Editing by David Holmes)