The industrial PC manufacturing industry in Asia is experiencing a boom, largely driven by a growing number of enterprises beginning to refocus on capacity build up and automation after years of cutting back on expansions. Manufacturers and exporters in Asia of the different IPC products are expected to maintain growth rates of 25 percent to 30 percent between 2003 and 2005. Worldwide, IPC products are expected to register a CAGR of around 11 percent between 2003 and 2005.

Taiwan dominates the IPC market in Asia, with most companies also driving the export business. Makers in mainland China are primarily focused on the domestic market, although as of late more companies are looking outward and refining their export business models.

There are about 100 companies in Taiwan that are active in the development and manufacture of IPC products. These companies cover a gamut of products from single board computer (SBC) boards, embedded cards, panel PCs, industrial workstations, IPC chassis, rack-mount servers, point-of-information (POI) terminals, kiosks, automated teller machines (ATMs) and point-of-sale (POS) systems.

About 10 IPC manufacturers are publicly listed companies in Taiwan. These include Advantech, ICP Electronics, Adlink Technology, Aaeon Technology, Portwell, Lanner Electronic, Ibase Technology, Boser Technology, Flytech Technology and Firich Enterprises. Revenues of Taiwan manufacturers range from over US$250 million for Advantech to less than US$5 million for the smaller firms.

Across the Taiwan Strait, mainland China is home to a smaller base of 30 IPC manufacturers, most of which are concentrating on IPC chassis. A handful also manufacture entry-level panel PCs.

Mainland China companies are clustered around Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong. Shenzhen EVOC Intelligent Technology Co. is the largest with 2003 revenue totaling US$25 million. Eight makers are focused on exports.

Beijing is a major manufacturing hub in mainland China for IPC products. The capital accounts for 40 percent of all IPC products sold on the mainland. However, the bulk of sales comes from Taiwan-based companies that have established factories and sales offices around the capital.

IPC suppliers in Beijing can be classified into three tiers. The first tier consists of technologically advanced firms from Taiwan, such as Advantech and Adlink. The second tier comprises local companies such as EVOC (Beijing), Beijing Norco Technology Co. Ltd and Beijing Control Industrial Computer Co. Ltd. The third tier of IPC suppliers comprises smaller companies that do basic assembly work on chassis and low-end panel PCs.

This market intelligence report covers 53 makers from Taiwan and mainland China. The companies range from large-scale manufacturers and established exporters such as Taiwan's Advantech to firms that are very new to exports such as Beijing-based Control.

The main export markets are the United States, United Kingdom, France, Japan, Germany, Australia, South Korea, Russia and India. Some of the major OEM and ODM clients are Agilent Technologies, Mitsubishi Electric, National Instruments, Samsung and Yuantai Technology.

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All information contained in China Sourcing Reports is the result of exclusive, ground-level and definitive research conducted by Global Sources' analysts. Companies featured in these reports may or may not be clients of Global Sources.