Compal Electronics will set up a factory in New Delhi, India, specifically for assembly of smartphones for 3-4 vendors, with production to begin in March 2016, according to company president Ray Chen.

The factory will assemble smartphones from semi knock down (SKD) units shipped from Compal's factory in eastern China and will have initial monthly capacity of 500,000 units, Chen said. But Compal has suspended a plan to establish smartphone production lines in Vietnam, Chen noted.

Compal, as one of the world's biggest notebook ODMs, has been diversifying its business in response to a shrinking global notebook market. Compal has set up a smart medicare R&D office, a healthcare technology development office and an IoT business office, Chen said.

Compal in June 2015 cooperated with Taiwan's Chang Gung Memorial Hospital to set up a healthcare technology R&D center to develop smart clothing. In October it invested NT$495 million (US$15.1 million) for a 20.54% stake in industrial computing device maker Avalue Technology, and has developed medicare devices. Compal has acquired an over 50% stake in biosensor developer General Life Biotechnology.

Compal shipped 40 million notebooks and 37 million tablets, smartphones and other types of smart hand-held devices in 2015, respectively decreasing 7% and increasing 32.1% on year, Chen said. Compal shipped 2.3 million LCD TVs in 2015, slipping 42.5%.

Compal expects global notebook shipments in 2016 to decline 5% on year but the company's shipments will remain unchanged, Chen indicated. Compal's 2016 shipments for smartphones will remain unchanged on year and those for tablets will grow significantly, Chen said. Compal expects to ship 2.5 million LCD TVs in 2016, rising 8.7% on year.

Compal expects the revenue proportion for non-notebook product lines to rise from 26% in 2015 to over 30% in 2016, Chen indicated.