Taipei, Dec. 27, 2007 (CENS)--Altek Corporation, one of Taiwan`s leading contract manufacturers of digital still cameras (DSCs), recently announced that it has acquired contract orders for DSCs from Japan`s Sanyo Electric, the first time ever for the Japanese firm to release such orders for own-branded DSCs.

Altek noted it would begin shipping the five million units of DSCs ordered by Sanyo from 2008. With the help of the new orders from Sanyo, Altek is expected to see shipments exceed 18 million units of DSCs in 2008, standing firm as the world`s second largest manufacturer of DSCs, only behind Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. which acquired Premier Image Technology Corp. a few months ago.

To address the over-reliance on such major clients as Kodak and Hewlett Packard, over the past several months Altek has been actively developing Japanese customers. In the beginning of this year, the company has accessed contract orders from Pentax of Japan. The company will see operating risks reduced next year when it begins to ship products to Sanyo.

Altek noted it would see shipments in the fourth quarter double that of the same period last year. Altek said it would challenge NT$11.4 billion (US$350.76 million at US$1: NT$32.5) in combined sales in the fourth quarter of this year. The company scored NT$700 million (US$21.53 million) in after-tax earnings, or NT$2.37 (US$0.07) in earnings per share, in the fourth quarter of this year. Yearly earnings per share will reach NT$6(US$0.18) this year.

A professional contract manufacturer of DSCs, Sanyo also develops own-brand products. Faced with the intense price competition worldwide, the Japanese firm has begun outsourcing products overseas.

Several years ago Sanyo was still the world`s leading contract manufacturer of DSCs. But the company has lost ground to Taiwan`s Hon Hai, Altek, and Ability Enterprise Co. as the world`s fourth-largest contract manufacturer because the world competition has intensified and Taiwan`s competitors have developed own technologies to make lenses.

Altek said it would be able to enjoy exponential growth in sales if it can access the ODM (original design manufacturer) orders from Sanyo.

(by Ben Shen)