Thanks to strong netbook growth, notebook PCB maker HannStar Board is expected to take a global share of at least 50%, perhaps even reaching 70% for related PCBs in 2009, according to industry sources. Other Taiwan-based PCB makers such as Gold Circuit Electronics and Tripod Technology are competing in the segment as well. GCE has begun small shipments of netbook PCBs in 2008, and Tripod has also entered the market this quarter.

HannStar Board has become a supplier of netbook PCBs for almost all major netbook vendors, including Asustek Computer, Acer, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) and Micro-Star International (MSI).

Netbook PCBs are low-margin applications, and HannStar Board is offering leading prices on 6- and 8-layer PCBs with its cost advantage, according to investors. HannStar Board indicated its 6-layer netbook PCBs account for 6% of its total sales, which has limited the impact on the company’s margins.

Although Tripod entered netbook PCB market later than its rivals, the growth of its notebook PCB business has gone relatively better than its other product lines, driven by shipments of netbook PCBs. Tripod’s first customer of its netbook applications is Acer, according to the company.

On the other hand, GCE is more conservative about its netbook business since it only has 5-10% gross margins. As GCE has varied product lines, the company tends to focus more on high-margin products due to profit concerns.

According to Digitimes Research, the penetration rate of netbooks in the notebook industry in 2008 was only 10%, with shipments of 15 million units. Netbook shipments are expected to rise to 30 million in 2009 supported by subsidies from telecommunication service providers and a higher price/performance ratio of the Intel Atom processor.

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