Quanta to focus on NB PC, launch new products in 2007

Feb 3, 2007, 1:20 GMT

Taipei - Quanta, the world's biggest notebook computer maker, foresees sharp growth in its NB PC output and will launch two new products in 2007, the Taiwan press reported Saturday.

At the year-end dinner party for Quanta employees on Friday, Quanta Chairman Barry Lam projected that Quanta's 2007 revenues would hit 500 billion Taiwan dollars (15 billion US dollars), up from 460 billion Taiwan dollars (13.9 billion US dollars) in 2006, the Economic Daily News reported.

Taiwan firms usually hold the year-end party at the end of the lunar year. In 2007, the lunar new year begins on February 18.

Lam said Quanta, while keeping its focus on NB PC, will develop two new products.

Lam refused to disclose details about the new products because he wants to keep them a mystery, but said one is smaller and lighter than a NB PC and the other is larger than a NB PC.

Quanta will have no difficulty in achieving its financial target because its revenues for January surpassed 5 million Taiwan dollars (150,000 US dollars), up 50 per cent year-on-year.

Lam also revealed that Quanta will begin producing the hundred-dollar laptop in the second half of 2007, and the shipment has been increased from 5 million to 10 million units.

The One-Laptop-per-Child (OLPC) project was launched by Nicholas Negroponte of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2005 to revolutionize education for poor kids around the world.

Quanta is in charge of designing and manufacturing the 100-dollar laptops. The laptops will be made at Quanta's plant in Changshou, Jiansu Province, China.

Though a low-cost computer, the company will see profits as it will run on a Linux platform instead of Windows so the company does not have to pay a fee to Microsoft.

OLPC is funded by a number of sponsors, including AMD, Brightstar Corp, eBay, Google, Marvell, News Corp, SES Global, Nortel Networks and Red Hat. Each company has donated 2 million US dollars.

Quanta is taking part in the project as a joint designer and sole manufacturer of the laptops.

The OLPC association negotiates with the recipient countries. Once a deal is made, the order is sent to Quanta and the foreign government pays the Taiwanese firm directly.