TAIPEI: Compal Electronics Inc, the world’s No. 2 contract notebook computer maker, yesterday said it expects its total shipments to grow more than 10 percent year-on-year to 90 million units this year, driven by growing demand for non-notebook products.
“The non-notebook segment is definitely going to contribute more than 30 percent revenue this year, compared with last year’s contribution of 26 percent,” Compal president Ray Chen told a press conference before the firm’s annual weiya banquet for its employees at the Nangang Exhibition Hall in Taipei.
He said shipments from new business units, such as servers, wearable products and Internet of Things products, would grow significantly to 5.6 million units from last year’s about 1 million units.
Shipments of tablets are expected to climb from last year largely on the back of the market share gains by Compal’s three tablet clients, Chen said.
However, the company is conservative about its smartphone shipments this year due to an uncertain outlook for the industry, he said.
“Compal’s smartphone segment failed to achieve our shipments goal last year, due to some clients changing their orders because of global soft demand,” he said. “In light of this, we are conservative about the outlook for the segment this year.”
Driven by the tablet shipments, Chen said Compal’s smart device segment, which includes smartphones, is expected to see its shipments surge more than 12 percent from last year’s 37 million units to 41.5 million units.
Chen also expects higher TV shipments this year, after the company last year took over Toshiba Corp’s TV business in North America and Europe.
Notebook computers still accounted for 74 percent of the firm’s annual revenue of NT$847.22 billion (US$25.06 billion) last year and the segment’s shipments are expected to be flat from last year’s 40 million units, Chen said.
Due to some small clients’ falling shipments of notebook products, Compal reported an 8 percent decline in notebook shipments last year from the previous year as they fell in tandem with slowing global laptop shipments, he said.
Compal expects global notebook industry shipments to fall 5 percent year-on-year this year, but the company hopes its notebook business can buck the trend by forging closer relationships with large clients and devising a better product mix.
“Compal is focusing more on commercial notebooks, gaming notebooks and two-in-one models,” Chen said.
In an effort to enhance operational efficiency, Compal is to integrate its notebook segment’s research and development division and its global operations division this year, he said.
The company also plans to continue investing in industrial automation to better manage costs, Chen said.
