Wal-Mart to place low-price PC orders with Taiwan suppliers

Taipei, Dec. 31, 2004 (CENS)--Taiwan supplies are expected to get new orders from the U.S.-based Wal-Mart, the world's largest retail chain, which recently announced plans to launch a new notebook PC model at a retail price of under US$500 in early 2005.

Wal-Mart has contacted some Taiwan PC suppliers for contract production of the low-price PC model. A group of local computer makers are striving hard to win the new orders, industry sources said.

The U.S. PC market has seen fierce competition and the ranking of most brands change frequently except for the top-three, Dell, HP and IBM. Some newcomers saw clear business gains in the competition market with regional advantages or strong sales channels, including Gateway and eMachines.

Industry sources said that big retail chains have been actively developing their low-price PC business via their established sales channels worldwide, trying to compete with big computer brands such as Dell and HP in the low-price segment.

Wal-Mart reportedly has selected suppliers of the low-price notebook PC model and is scheduled to place low-price desktop orders with some local makers. The sources said that Wal-Mart wants to place orders with Taiwanese suppliers so as to get cost-competitive products to facilitate its rapid and efficient entry into the low-price PC arena.

Wal-Mart's move has attracted attention from its brand partners, including HP (including Compaq) and eMachines.

In addition to the US$500-less notebook PC model, Wal-Mart has posted advertisements for its US$259.88 desktop PC model adopting Intel's Celeron processor and Microsoft's Windows software, as well as US$199.98 super-low price desktop model.