Asustek Computer's notebook shipments are expected to reach 20 million units in 2014, up from 18.5 million units in 2013, while its tablet shipments are expected to remain at 12 million units with orders for Google's Nexus 8 tablet, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

Asustek is set to announce its new 7- and 8-inch tablets in March and is expected to unveil Google's Nexus 8 in May at the earliest, the sources noted.

Asustek's entry-level 7-inch tablets are currently its major shipment growth driver and its 8-inch MeMO Pad 8 is also seeing better-than-expected demand with the market-friendly price of NT$6,990 (US$230).

Because of the impact from tablets, overall notebook shipments in 2013 dropped over 10% on year, causing notebook vendors to question what their next steps should be, as both touchscreen and convertible notebooks continue to suffer from weak demand and notebooks with prices below NT$20,000 remain the best sellers.

Samsung Electronics and Acer have also changed their strategies for the notebook industry. Samsung has already given up the mid-range and entry-level notebook markets and is no longer price competing with Lenovo, Acer and Asustek in Europe. Because of the new strategy, Samsung's shipments in 2014 are expected to drop sharply from 2013 despite the growth from Chromebooks.

Acer is currently going through a business reorganization, which is expected to take about a half year to complete, making it vulnerable in the first half of 2014.