Taiwan's BenQ aims for 30 pct revenue growth in '08

By Sheena Lee

TAIPEI, May 15 (Reuters) - Taiwan's BenQ, the branded unit of Qisda Corp (2352.TW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said on Thursday it expects revenue to grow 30 percent this year and next as it expands in emerging markets such as Latin America, Middle East and China.

"We are seeing very fast growth in regions like Latin America, and it's our strategy to target these markets with high growth potential," Chief Executive Officer and President of BenQ Conway Lee told a news conference.

BenQ's branded business had revenue of T$60 billion ($1.9 billion) in 2007.

Lee's company will start shipping mobile internet products this year as it is in collaboration with a carrier in Europe.

He declined to identify the partner or say how many units the firm would ship.

BenQ is also considering selling child-friendly PCs after products such as Asustek Computer's (2357.TW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) low-cost Eee PC were warmly received, prompting many technology firms to consider developing similar computers.

"We are currently discussing whether it will be a good business decision for our company to sell such laptops. And if we decide to do so, it will be sold in the fourth quarter (this year)," Lee said.

Taiwan's Acer Inc (2353.TW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world's third-largest computer vendor behind Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Dell (DELL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), has said it will unveil a low-cost "netbook" laptop by the second to third quarter of this year.