Asus Said to Manufacture Notebook PCs for Dell
November 04, 2005
Dell is said to be shifting its notebook PC contract orders to Asus from Samsung, making Asus the fourth Taiwanese maker to supply notebooks to Dell. Others currently include Quanta, Compal, and Wistron. The move hints that Asus may be getting nearer to spinning off its manufacturing division, much as Acer had done with Wistron to assuage customer concerns over conflict of interest. Although such a spin-off of its ODM business was originally in the works, Asus's original timeline put the split three years down the road. The recent move by Dell is said to be accelerating the timeline to about one and a half years. With Dell's orders, Asus is expected to increase notebook PC shipment to six million units in 2006 and over eight million units in 2007.