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Chinese personal computer maker Lenovo Group will leap to ninth place
in the global chip purchasing ranks this year, thanks to its acquisition
of IBM's PC division, according to a market research group.
Lenovo's increased purchasing power affects the
entire supply chain of the computer industry, and could cause changes
leading to job losses and corporate decline in some places, while new
areas prosper
. In the United
States, for example, some companies are already starting to shift PC
assembly work to Asia, where labor is cheaper.
"Assembly will gradually shift to China. (But) for the key chips and
components inside a PC, it will be all the same guys," said Tony Tseng, a
computer industry analyst for Merrill Lynch in Taipei.
Lenovo would require around US$4.27 billion worth
of semiconductors to
put inside PCs this year, up from US$1.01 billion last year, when it
ranked 36th in the world, iSuppli said Wednesday. It would effectively
replace IBM, which would fall to number 16 in the world, from the ninth
spot last year.
Most PC parts are already made in Asia, except vital components like
central processors, hard drives, and memory chips. But a lot of PC
assembly was still done in the U.S. for strategic reasons, and much of
that would likely shift to Asia in the coming few yeas, Tseng said.
Some companies, like Taiwan's ProMOS Technologies, are already looking
to Lenovo for new business. The memory chipmaker plans to invest US$2.5
million in mainland to make flash memory cards for personal computers.
"We decided to enter this business after Lenovo bought IBM's PC
division. We want to be one of their suppliers," said Albert Lin, a vice
president at ProMOS.
Lenovo completed the US$1.25 billion deal with IBM in May, transforming
the Chinese company into a US$13 billion a year computer powerhouse, with
19,000 employees and expected shipments of around 14 million
PCs.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2005-07-11 14:18
