Notebook PCB makers concerned about Dell buyout talks

Notebook-use PCB makers are paying attention to the outcome of buyout talks reportedly being held between Dell and private-equity firms as the future development of the world's third-largest PC vendor may affect their sales, according to industry sources.

The buyout talks come after a number of PCB makers including Global Brands Manufacture (GBM) and Taiwan PCB Techvest (TPT) have ramped their capacity for notebook boards, the sources noted.

Overall supply capacity of notebook boards at Taiwan-based PCB makers in the first quarter of 2013 is estimated to be 1.2 million square feet higher than that in the same quarter of a year earlier, the sources conceded.

The move by Dell is expected to have an adverse impact on global notebook shipments, and therefore drain growth momentum from the notebook board sector, commented the sources.

Some large-scale PCB makers are likely to adopt aggressive price strategies to win orders in 2013, while others such as HannStar Board and Tripod Technology may accelerate their transitioning processes.

HannStar Board has been moving its focus to the production of PCBs for servers and network equipment, while GBM has ventured into the telematics, STB, gaming machine and optoelectronics sectors.

Tripod is expected to switch more production lines for server, telematics and HDI boards, indicated the sources.