Notebook ODMs expects their shipments in the second half to grow 50% from the first due to stronger-than-expected orders from clients in Europe, plus Microsoft's strategy to significantly reduce Windows' licensing fees for sub-US$299 models to US$15.

　　The notebook market suffered two consecutive years of shipment declines and was originally expected to see another drop in 2014. However, ODMs have started turning optimistic and expect recoveries in the second half in both the consumer and enterprise markets.

　　A replacement trend has already started emerging in the enterprise market after Microsoft stopped support for Windows XP, the ODMs noted.

　　Demand in Europe started recovering in the first half of 2014. Despite July and August being the slow season for the region, orders for the year-end holidays, which will start appearing in September, are expected to benefit ODMs.

　　Wistron president Robert Huang recently pointed out that the company has felt an order recovery and expects shipment ratio for the first and second halves of 2014 to reach 4:6.

　　White-box and gaming notebook maker Clevo also noted that demand in Europe is turning strong and the company's clients in emerging markets have also started placing strong orders since May.

　　Despite the recovery, Taiwan-based notebook players are still aggressively developing their non-notebook businesses. Acer and Asustek Computer are both pushing cloud computing services for Internet of Things business opportunities. ODMs such as Quanta Computer, Wistron and Inventec have turned to focus on the server industry.