Taipei, Dec. 3, 2008 (CENS)--Kontron AG of Germany, world`s largest supplier of embedded computer system solutions, plans to outsource up to 75% of such products from Quanmax Inc., a joint venture between Kontron and Quanta Computer Inc. of Taiwan, with the latter to manufacture these products till 2010, according to Tom Meyer, vice president of Kontron.

Kontron, employing over 2,300 workers worldwide, now provides various embedded computer solutions widely applied in industrial automation, testing and measuring, communications, medical instruments, entertainment devices, military and aviation.

To expand in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and SE Asia, Kontron has inaugurated a center for sales and technical support services in Taiwan, aiming to drive up annual sales to US$20 million by 2010.

Due to the above move, Kontron has decided to take back its franchises from Quanmax starting next year; however, Meyer stressed, the firm will keep outsourcing production to Quanta via Quanmax, which will help to cut procurement costs by 2% within 3 years.

Quanta, world-leading supplier of notebook PCs, has been trying to diversify into different fields, such as auto electronics, medical instruments and IPCs (industrial PCs), mainly due to declining margins of notebook PCs, which presently generate 85% of the firm`s total sales.

Compared with mass production of notebook PCs, flexible and small-volume production of IPCs generates higher margins for Quanta. The product line is expected to help drive Quanta`s operations in the near future, as long as the firm keeps working with Kontron.

(by Steve Chuang)