UPDATE 2-Taiwan's Quanta, Compal see more Q3 laptop shipment

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By Roger Tung

TAIPEI, July 7 (Reuters) - Quanta Computer (2382.TW) and Compal Electronics (2324.TW), the world's top two contract laptop PC makers, said on Monday they expect their third-quarter shipments to rise 20 percent or more from the second quarter, amid strong demand.

Quanta expected the rising popularity of low-cost PCs will boost its notebook PC shipment by at least 20 percent during the period, while Compal said growing laptop demand in China, India and eastern Europe would outweigh the slowing demand of the U.S. market.

"The main driver behind the rise is from low-cost PCs," Quanta's Vice President Elton Yang said, giving the forecast at an investor event sponsored by the Taiwan stock exchange.

Quanta and local rival Asustek Computer (2357.TW) are expected to benefit from growing demand for low-cost PCs as an economic slowdown in the United States forces consumers to cut back on spending. [ID:nSP304980]

"The company (Quanta) is not being affected by the economic situation and rising manufacturing costs," Yang said, adding Quanta's full-year target to ship 40 million laptops remained unchanged.

Shares of Quanta -- which also competes with Compal Electronics (2324.TW) and whose customers include Hewlett Packard (HPQ.N) and Dell (DELL.O) -- ended up 1.34 percent on Monday, roughly in line with the broader market's 1.56 percent jump.

Compal stocks fell 0.61 percent.