Lenovo Takes Backward Step With Compal JV 联想和仁宝合资建厂为倒退举动

By newsdoug on September 28, 2011

Lenovo takes step backward with manufacturing JV Investors must see something I’m missing in Lenovo’s (HKEx: 992) newly announced $300 million joint venture with Taiwanese contract PC manufacturer Compal (Taipei: 2324). That’s the only reason I can find for an 11 percent jump in Lenovo’s stock on Tuesday after it announced the deal, which will see it pair with one of Taiwan’s top contract PC makers in a new manufacturing tie-up. To me, this deal looks more like a step backward than a positive new development, and goes in the opposite direction of global industry trends. First let’s review the facts: under their new deal, the companies will invest the $300 million to build a PC manufacturing plant in the Chinese city of Hefei. Presumably the plant will exclusively supply PCs to Lenovo, which recently passed Taiwan’s Acer (Taipei: 2353) to become the world’s third largest PC seller (previous post) and said it aims to take the number-two spot from Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) by the end of the year. The only problem with this latest joint venture plan is that it completely goes against a much bigger industry trend that has seen most of the world’s major electronics makers, including names like Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), Dell and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) sell off most of their PC-building assets in the last 10 years and outsource the work to specialist contract manufactures, mostly in Taiwan, like Compal and Hon Hai (Taipei: 2317). The trend occurred to let the big brands focus on marketing and sales, while giving them the flexibility to use one or more of the contract manufacturers depending on their needs in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. For Lenovo to get back into the manufacturing business completely contradicts all these latest industry trends, and I see little or no advantage in this move. My only guess as to why the market got so excited over the news is that perhaps investors believe that with this new project now on its plate, Lenovo will be less likely to make a foolish bid for HP’s PC assets, which would be much more disastrous for Lenovo than this relatively small new investment with Compal.

Bottom line: Lenovo’s new PC manufacturing joint venture with Compal makes little or no sense, and is an unneeded distraction as it aims to take the world’s No. 2 PC spot from Dell.

联想(0992.HK)周二宣布，将与台湾PC代工厂商仁宝(2324.TW)共建规模达3亿美元的合资公司，这项交易中，定有投资者发现了而我却错过的东西。联想股价在周二交易宣布後大涨11%，这是我唯一能想到的原因。合资建厂交易，将令联想和台湾PC代工大厂结成新的生产联盟。但依我看，这项交易更像是倒退了一步，而非向前的新发展，与全球PC行业发展趋势也是背道而驰。首先，我们来回顾一些事实。按照此交易，联想和仁宝将斥资3亿美元在合肥建PC制造厂。联想近期超越台湾宏基(2353.TW)，成为世界第三大PC厂商，并称其目标是到年底取代戴尔(DELL.O)成为世界第二大PC厂商。新合资工厂将只向联想供应PC产品，这项合资计划里面唯一的问题是，这种做法与行业大趋势完全背道而驰。过去10年中，苹果(AAPL.O: 行情)、戴尔和惠普(HPQ.N)等一些世界电子行业巨头纷纷出售各自PC制造资产，并将PC生产工作外包给仁宝和鸿海(2317.TW: 行情)等专业代工商。这种趋势让大公司更多地专注于市场营销，同时在日益激烈的全球竞争中给他们带来灵活性，可以根据需求选择一家或多家代工厂商。联想重返制造业务，完全违背了这些最新行业趋势，我认为此举鲜有或根本没有优势可言。市场为何对此消息如此兴奋，我唯一的猜测的是，投资者可能认为联想有了这一新项目，愚蠢的竞购惠普PC资产的可能性会更小。与这项和仁宝的相对较小规模的投资相比，竞购惠普PC资产会带来更大灾难。

一句话：联想和仁宝合资建厂几乎无意义可言，对超越戴尔成为世界第二大PC厂商的目标来说，也是节外生枝。

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