Compal, Acer, Arima and others have disclosed similar plans for plants in Shanghai or southern China. Inventec, another manufacturer, has said it will open a facility capable of producing 200,000 notebooks a month in China, according to the Commercial Times. Most of the notebooks will be made for Compaq, according to Inventec's chairman. In the end, the mass migration will lead to lower manufacturing costs and, inevitably, to lower notebook prices. Other factors, of course, will contribute to lower notebook prices, including increased capacity worldwide in monitor manufacturing.
Labor is also cheaper in China.
There will be some impact on costs, he said. U.S. customers will likely see benefits from the cost reductions. In 1999, Taiwanese manufacturers accounted for 49 percent of the world's notebooks, according to Tsan, and the vast majority of these notebooks are exported. The China boom, however, remains contingent on diplomatic niceties. Although relations have thawed between the two countries, negotiations between China and Taiwan remain tense.