Vietnam, Thailand to emerge as leading laptop producers

The article outlines that rising labour costs in China, coupled with the global desire to mitigate overdependence on a single region, are expected to be factors in driving the shift to Southeast Asia.

This comes after 2019 saw the global notebook PC market stand at 160 million units, of which 90% came from China. The majority of its manufactured products were overseen by Taiwanese companies, while Southeast Asia handled just a slim fraction of production.

According to Nikkei, through various interviews with manufacturers, MIC discovered that China’s share of notebook PC production is set to be scaled down from 90% to 40% by 2030.

Most notably, Wistron, a major Taiwanese contract manufacturer, will produce notebook PCs on behalf of brands from the United States in Vietnam.

The article also revealed that among other Taiwanese peers, Compal Electronics is considering developing their output capacity in Vietnam. Elsewhere, Quanta Computer, the world's third-largest contract manufacturer, is expected to shift production of their notebook PCs to Thailand.

Meanwhile, Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronic manufacturer, may produce their notebook PCs in Vietnam.

The Nikkei article also notes that this year, notebook PC deliveries are expected to climb by 6% to 170 million units.

According to the Japanese newspaper, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has fueled a rise in telecommuting and distance learning, while increasing demand for Chromebooks, which run using Google’s operating system.

“China’s Lenovo Group, HP in the US, and Taiwan’s Asustek Computer have released their own Chromebooks, which sell for a few hundred of US dollars. Most of those models are produced on contract by Taiwanese firms,” says Nikkei.