Samsung May Place Laptop Contracts With Taiwanese Makers
2011/06/30 | By Ken LiuTaipei, June 30, 2011 (CENS)--Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is said to likely place laptop contracts with Taiwan's manufacturers amid reports that the company's tight in-house production capacity would fail its aggressive shipment goal for this year.
Samsung has set a shipment goal of 18 million laptops for this year, around 80% more than it delivered last year. Industry executives noted that the company's in-house production capacity is running close to full capacity, which may make its 2011 shipment goal become unattainable if no capacity is added.
Samsung executives have reportedly approached Taiwan's contract manufacturers, including Inventec Corp. and Pegatron Corp., over contract production deals and may start placing the contracts sometime in the second half of this year at the earliest.
Industry executives noted that it is legitimate for the South Korean supplier to farm out the production to Taiwan's manufacturers on account of Taiwan's unmatched cost efficiency in the manufacturing. Currently, Taiwan fills over 90% of world demands for laptops.
Samsung ventured into the laptop market in 2009 with netbooks. In 2010, the company snatched up around 5% of world laptop market, becoming the No.7 supplier. Although a late entrant in this field, the company is outfitted with solid foundation built on its cell-phone, semiconductor, and LCD-components manufacturing.
In spite of the bold shipment goal, industry watchers are skeptical about whether or not the company will be able to achieve the goal given the company's disappointed shipments in the Jan.-May period this year.
| Rankings of Global Laptop Suppliers by Shipment Volume, 2010 | ||
| Ranking | Company | Shipment Volume |
| 1 | HP | 38.14 million |
| 2 | Acer | 36.02 million |
| 3 | Dell | 23.17 million |
| 4 | Lenovo | 19.55 million |
| 5 | Toshiba | 18.93 million |
| 6 | Asustek | 17.52 million |
| 7 | Samsung | 10.29 million |
| 8 | Apple | 9.73 million |