China-based ODMs LCFC (Hefei) Electronics Technology and Uniwill Technology are expected to have notebook shipments in 2015 significantly increasing on year, posing increasing competitive pressure on Taiwan-based notebook ODMs, mainly Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics, Wistron and Inventec, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

LCFC (Hefei) Electronics, a joint venture established by China-based IT vendor Lenovo and Compal, expects to ship more than 20 million notebooks in 2015, rising 15-20% on year, the sources said. Thus, Lenovo is expected to reduce orders released to Taiwan-based ODMs among which Wistron will be affected the most, the sources indicated. Wistron is expected to ship about 20 million notebooks in 2015, dropping 4-5% on year, the sources noted.

Uniwill was established by China-based business group Tsinghua Tongfang, with notebook R&D team coming from Taiwan-based Shuttle, the sources said. Uniwill has reportedly landed ODM orders for some notebook models to be launched in 2015 from Taiwan-based IT vendor Acer due to Acer's consideration to minimize ODM production cost, the sources indicated. In addition, Uniwill is familiar with ODM production for emerging markets, such as Latin America, and open-bid procurement by schools or organizations, posing competitive threat to second-tier Taiwan-based ODMs Clevo and Shuttle, the sources analyzed. Uniwill is expected to ship 2.0 million notebooks, tablets and all-in-one PCs in 2015, the sources said.

The combined global share for notebook shipments by Quanta, Compal, Wistron and Inventec in 2015 is expected to drop to 75% and the combined shipments will remain flat on year, the sources indicated.