By Sheena Lee
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Quanta Computer Inc. (2382.TW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world's top contract maker of laptop computers, said it expected to ship up to 30 million notebooks in 2007, doubling its previous growth forecast on robust demand.
Quanta, whose major clients include top brands such as Apple Inc. (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Dell Inc. (DELL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Sony Corp. (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), expects to ship 30-50 percent more notebooks than the 20 million units it shipped last year, President Michael Wang, told Reuters in an interview.
"Notebooks are doing well this year and demand is very healthy," Wang said during Computex, the world's second-biggest computer show.
The latest forecast beats a previous company estimate of 25 percent growth, due partly to the launch of Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) new Vista operating system and rising demand from emerging markets.
"China is still growing the fastest, tracked by India and Russia, but growth from Brazil is still not that obvious yet," Wang said, adding that notebooks would continue to see two to three years of robust demand.
"Their target growth is very doable as they've gained more orders from Apple to make both MacBook and MacBookPros -- they should be able to ship 27 to 28 million notebooks this year," said JP Morgan analyst Alvin Kwock.
Quanta expected to see continued double-digit revenue growth in the third quarter versus the current quarter, Wang said.
The company has not yet announced its second-quarter results, but analysts expect the company to see revenues of T$152 billion in the April-June quarter, according to Reuters data, from T$196.4 billion a year ago.
Quanta said global notebook shipments will also hit around 95 million units in 2007, as the firm expects to maintain gross margins at slightly above 5 percent.
The estimate was slightly below IDC's forecast that global notebook shipments would reach 100 million units this year.
Quanta and its smaller cross-town rival Compal Electronics Inc. (2324.TW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) make more than 40 percent of the world's notebook computers.
NON-NOTEBOOKS
Diversification is also important for Quanta as it keeps its target of making non-notebook products 25 percent of its revenue base by the end of the year.
"We have been aggressively pursuing non-notebook products and have had some success," said Wang.
Since last week, Quanta has been under media limelight after two of Taiwan's Chinese-language business newspapers reported that the firm had recently received orders from Apple for about 5 million iPhones, but Wang declined to comment on the report. Continued...
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