Asustek Challenges Shipment of 18 Million NBs in 2010

Taipei, May 11, 2010 (CENS)--Asustek Computer Inc., a world-caliber PC supplier with its own brand, has raised shipment goal by 12% to 18 million units of NB PCs, including the Netbook Eee PCs, from the original projection of 16 million units.

Having successfully evaded the meltdown, the company saw first-quarter pretax earnings grow 10-fold.

Asustek CEO C.L. Shen said his company will see the ratio of OEM orders rise to 40%-50% in 2011 from present 30%. To this goal, the company will add a new supplier, possibly Quanta Computer Inc., in the third quarter of this year, in addition to existing Regatron Corporation and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.

At an institutional investors presentation, Asustek said it saw little impact from the Greek credit crisis, but projected shipments in the second quarter of this year will be affected by the volatility of the European single currency-euro. The company predicted shipments of Netbook computers in the second quarter will grow under 5% from the preceding quarter to reach 4.1 million up to 4.43 million units.

Asustek scored NT$80.07 billion (US$2.54 billion at US$1:NT$31.5) in sales from own-brand products in the first quarter of this year, down 6% from the previous quarter. With gross profit margin reaching 13.4%, Asustek posted NT$4.94 billion (US$156.82 million) in after-tax earnings, or NT$1.16 (US$0.036) in earnings per share, in the first quarter of this year.

Shen noted his company is struggling to maintain operating profit margin at between 4% and 5% this year, albeit the sharp volatility of euro and the price hike in such component as DRAMs (dynamic random access memories).

Looking to the potential business opportunity from machine replacement in the second half of this year, Asustek will introduce three new models of business-type notebook PCs and, in the same time, kick off deployment of business-type PC distribution channels, in the second quarter of this year.

Asustek bodes well for the prospects of notebook sales in China market this year. The company anticipated its sales of notebook PCs in China market will grow 70% annually with market share challenging 15%-16% from present 13%-14%, this year. To challenge the position as the worlds' fourth-largest PC brand, the company will soon launch a series of new machine models.