Micro-Star International (MSI) aims to ship 150,000 to 200,000 notebooks in 2004 – the first year for volume shipments after it began notebook manufacturing at the end of 2003, company sources said. MSI makes notebooks for IBM at a joint venture plant set up with LG Electronics (LGE) in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province (China). The plant has a monthly capacity of 30,000 units, the sources said.
The plant has room to expand and MSI does not have plans to outsource production to other manufacturers in the immediate future, the sources said, referring to a report that the company may outsource production to Compal Electronics after the notebook maker took control of MSI optical drive subsidiary Accesstek last week. MSI will initially focus on promoting sales in China and aims to sell around 20,000 notebooks there in 2004. MSI will also cooperate with its motherboard distributors in developing its notebook business, the sources said.