【英语科技】鸿海代工笔记本 对手联合对抗

Taiwan's manufacturers, which assemble more than 90% of the world's notebook computers, are being forced to merge with their component suppliers as already-shrinking profit margins face an even greater threat: the entry of heavyweight Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.

The major computer brand names, such as Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc. and Acer Inc., are playing the island's notebook manufacturers against each other to keep costs down, even as labor and raw materials prices rise; that pressure also helps keep prices down for consumers.

The entry this year into the notebook market of Hon Hai, the world's largest contract maker of electronics products and already a key supplier of components to the notebook makers, only raises the competitive stakes further.

Taiwan's notebook manufacturers may be the leading PC companies that most consumers have never heard of: The list includes Compal Electronics Inc., Quanta Computer Inc., Wistron Corp. and Pegatron Corp. They manufactured 147 million notebooks for the brand companies in 2009, according to Taiwan research firm DigiTimes Research.

The notebook manufacturers are turning to vertical integration with their component suppliers in an effort to slash overhead. These notebook makers' average gross margin has narrowed to 4% or lower this year from 7%-8% in 2003.

Hon Hai, known in the industry for cutting costs, had for years focused its PC business on making components and desktops, but this year moved into notebook manufacturing.

The company is a master of vertical integration: Hon Hai or its affiliates make many of the components used in the computers and gadgets sold to the big brand names, providing a competitive advantage.

Hon Hai, also known by its trade name Foxconn, entered the desktop computer business decades ago by making cable connectors, and has since moved into motherboards, cases and flat-panel displays, among others -- either directly or through affiliates. Components often carry relatively meaty margins, which means Hon Hai can offer extremely low prices on assembly and still earn money.Its smaller rivals in notebook assembly, long subject to smaller economies of scale, are moving bring their suppliers under their own roofs in an effort to beat Hon Hai at its own integrated game.

Hon Hai doesn't disclose financial details of its component units, and none of the PC makers is willing to share details of their business ties with Hon Hai. Representatives from Hon Hai, H-P, Dell and Acer declined to comment.

Calvin Huang, analyst at Daiwa Securities, suggested that a Hon Hai affiliate, Foxconn Technology Co., is 'likely to keep losing notebook-related business, including light-metal and thermal modules,' as its revenue hasn't grown as much as its rivals in the past few months.

But even if Hon Hai does lose orders to its smaller competitors in the notebook sector, it is so sprawling that it can convert most of its component production into lines for printers, game consoles and smartphones, said Robert Cheng, an analyst at Credit Suisse.

In response to that strength, the Taiwan notebook makers are closing ranks.

In early September, Compal said it would form an LCD joint venture with South Korea's LG Display Co

News of that deal came shortly after Pegatron said it would acquire a leading casing manufacturer, Ri-Teng Computer (Shanghai) in late August.

Wistron, which makes notebooks for Acer, announced in August a joint venture to produce panel modules in China with AU Optronics Corp., a flat-panel maker.

'A successful vertical integration will be very helpful to cost control,' said Jonathan Chang, spokesman at Pegatron, 'It is a good incentive to land orders. . ...and makes clients more reluctant to leave.'

Pegatron, which has manufactured most of its own components for four years now, said these investments in suppliers not only cut costs but also increase efficiency, reducing time for delivery and development of new components.

The notebook PC makers have also branched out into a range of other products over the past decade, including smartphones, videogame consoles and television sets, to boost shrinking margins. But none of them have been as diversified as Hon Hai.

According to analysts, Hon Hai has landed orders to manufacture some 20 million units of notebooks for H-P. Within couple of years, Hon Hai is likely to push one or two PC assemblers out of the market, analysts said.

'I expect that over the next two years we would see up to two [original design manufacturers] exit the notebook business and turn to other product manufacturing or exit manufacturing all together,' said Michael Palma, analyst at research firm IDC.

Notebook PC manufacturers have focused on merging the major parts, including casing and connectors in the past couple of years.

In 2008, Quanta invested $39.6 million in casing and metal component manufacturing, and invested an additional $27.9 million in the same categories in 2009. Compal, meanwhile, has invested some $91 million since 2007.

Compal spokesman Gary Lu said the company remains interested in merging more component manufacturers that make advanced key components, not those already standardized ones.

Quanta, Wistron and Pegatron all said they remained interested in merging more component makers once they are available in the market.

It remains to be seen if the strategy is paying off: Operating component factories requires a different kind of expertise from the manufacturers' traditional strengths, and high volume is needed to bring down cost.

Compal, for instance, in October 2009 sold its panel affiliate, TPO Displays Corp., after years of losses. Pegatron has been suffering from not landing enough orders after it officially split from netbook creator Asustek Computer Inc. earlier this year.

Some analysts also see the vertical integration as unnecessary.

'Producing your own components is like keeping a cow for drinking milk,' said Mr. Cheng, the analyst at Credit Suisse. 'These companies have made lots of cash for years. Rich people just think they ought to make everything on their own.'

A Pegatron spokesman said the same debate occurs on whether car makers should manufacture their own components.

'We believe this is the only way allowing us to effectively respond to electronic gadgets' short life cycle,' he said.

全球90%以上的笔记本电脑都是在台湾组装的。而这些台湾制造商们正被迫与他们的元件供应商合并，因为已经缩水的利润率面临更大的威胁：代工巨头鸿海精密工业股份有限公司（简称鸿海精密）进驻笔记本市场。

Reuters宏碁笔记本电脑为争夺惠普公司（Hewlett-Packard Co.）、戴尔公司（Dell Inc.）和宏碁公司（Acer Inc.）等知名电脑品牌的订单，台湾笔记本制造商纷纷降低成本，即使劳动力和原材料价格上升；这种压力也迫使他们向消费者继续压低价格。

作为全球最大的电子产品代工企业，并且本身已是笔记本制造元件的主要供应商，鸿海今年进入笔记本代工市场进一步加大了竞争风险。

台湾笔记本制造商也许是大多数消费者从未听说过的领先计算机公司：其中包括仁实电脑（Compal Electronics Inc.）、广达电脑（Quanta Computer Inc.）、纬创资通股份有限公司（Wistron Corp）及和硕联合科技股份有限公司（Pegatron Corp.）。据台湾研究公司DigiTimes Research统计，这些公司在2009年为知名电脑品牌公司生产了1.47亿台笔记本。

这些笔记本制造商正打算与他们的元件供应商进行垂直合并，从而削减开支。他们今年的平均毛利率从2003年的7%到8%跌至4%甚至以下。

以削减成本闻名的鸿海精密多年来一直在重点发展个人计算机业务，生产元件和台式电脑，但今年开始进入笔记本制造领域。

鸿海精密是垂直合并的行家：卖给大型知名品牌的电脑和其他电子产品的许多元件都是由鸿海及其子公司制造，这是一个竞争优势。

Bloomberg News鸿海集团主席郭台铭(Terry Gou)数十年前，品牌名称为“富士康”的鸿海精密以制造电缆连接器进入台式电脑领域，随后不断扩张，开始生产主板、机箱和平板显示器等，有些是直接生产，有些是通过子公司生产。元件的利润率一般相对较高，因此就算组装价格极低，鸿海也能赚到钱。其在笔记本代工市场的较小竞争对手因长期受到经济规模较小的限制，逐渐将其供应商纳入旗下，从而在并购游戏中与鸿海精密抗衡。

鸿海未公布其元件部门的财务详情，个人电脑制造商们也不愿分享他们与鸿海精密的业务联系情况。鸿海精密、惠普、戴尔和宏碁的公司代表均拒绝置评。

大和证券（Daiwa Securities）分析师黄文尧（Calvin Huang）认为，鸿海精密旗下富士康科技公司的“笔记本相关业务可能会继续流失，包括轻金属和散热模块”，因为其收入增幅在过去几个月内不如其竞争对手。

瑞士信贷（Credit Suisse）分析师郑胜荣（Robert Cheng）说，即使鸿海在笔记本领域的订单会流失到较小竞争对手手中，但它的规模太庞大了，能够将其大部分元件生产转入生产打印机、游戏机和智能手机等产品中。

面对鸿海的强势，台湾笔记本制造商正联手进行对抗。

9月初，仁实电脑说将会与韩国的LG Display Co成立生产LCD的合资企业。

在该交易的消息公布前不久，和硕联合8月底表示，将收购机箱生产领先企业日腾电脑配件(上海)有限公司。

为宏碁生产笔记本电脑的纬创资通8月宣布，已与平板制造企业友达光电建立了一家在中国大陆生产面板模组的合资企业。

和硕联合发言人Jonathan Chang说，如果能够成功地进行垂直整合，将有助于节省成本。获得订单是很好的激励，使客户更不愿意离开。

和硕联合为自身公司生产多数元件已有四年，该公司表示，这些对供应商的投资不仅会降低成本，还会提高效率，减少新元件交付和研发的时间。

这些笔记本电脑生产企业在过去10年还涉足其他产品系列，包括智能手机、游戏机和电视机等，以提高利润率，但没有一家像鸿海那样多元化。

据分析师说，鸿海已获得为惠普生产大约2,000万台笔记本电脑的订单，分析师说，鸿海两年内可能将把一两家电脑组装企业踢出市场。

研究企业国际数据公司（IDC）分析师帕尔马（Michael Palma）说，我预计未来两年，我们将看到至多两家（原始设计制造商）退出笔记本业务，转向其他产品制造，或者彻底退出制造业务。

过去两年中，笔记本电脑生产企业致力于整合主要电脑配件，包括机箱和连接器。

广达电脑2008年投资了3,960万美元用于生产机箱和金属元件，2009年追加投资2,790万美元。仁宝电脑2007年以来已投资了大约9,100万美元。

仁宝电脑发言人吕清雄说，该公司有意并购更多的生产先进关键元件、而非标准件的元件生产企业。

广达电脑、纬创资通与和硕联合均表示，只要电脑元件生产企业要出售，他们仍有兴趣并购更多这样的企业。

该策略能否成功尚需观察：运营电脑元件工厂需要有着与电脑制造企业传统实力不同的专门技能，另外需要较高的产量以降低成本。

例如，仁宝电脑旗下的面板附属公司统宝光电（TPO Displays Corp.）在亏损数年后，被仁宝电脑于2009年10月出售。和硕联合今年初与上网本发明企业华硕（Asustek Computer Inc.）正式分拆后，一直因订单不足而处于困境。

一些分析师也认为，不必进行垂直整合。

瑞士信贷分析师郑胜荣说，自己生产元件就像为了喝奶自己养一头牛一样，这些企业数年来赚了很多钱，有钱人认为，他们应该自己生产每样产品。

和硕联合发言人说，就汽车生产企业是否应自己生产汽车配件也有同样的讨论。

他说，我们认为这是有效解决电子产品周期较短的唯一方式。