NEWS - Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Winstron To Make One Million Xbox 360s A Month
Electronics contract manufacturer Wistron Corp is expanding production capacity for its Xbox game consoles and other products to meet increased demand, even as it increases its focus on new, higher-margin items, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing the companys chairman. It quoted Simon Lining as saying in an interview that Wistron aims to boost its production capacity for Xbox 360 game consoles, laptop computers and other products including servers to 30 mln units by mid-2007. We are now expanding the manufacturing base for the Xbox in the southern Chinese city of Zhongshan, Lin said. He added that Wistron hopes to reach a capacity of one million units per month by year end to fully support our customer (Microsoft). Microsoft has increased its orders for Xbox 360 consoles because it hopes to win customers from rival Sony Computer Entertainment Inc after Sony delayed the launch of its PlayStation 3, as originally scheduled in the first quarter. Wistron is also boosting production of its laptops because of increased demand, Lin said. We are revved up to double the (production) volume at the companys Kunshan factory in central China, he said. The company primarily makes personal computers for branded vendors, including Dell Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co.Source: http://www.forbes.com/