updated 11:30 am EST, Mon November 16, 2009
ASUS may buy Toshiba group to move up
ASUS could push its way to near the top of notebook market share by buying out one of its largest competitors, company chairman Jonney Shih reportedly revealed today. He hopes for ASUS to reach the top three in notebook builders by 2011 and says the company has talked to Toshiba about buying its notebook business. Nothing has been finalized, and it remains unclear how close if at all the two may be to a deal.
To date, ASUS' rapid rise in notebook share has stemmed primarily from its Eee PC netbooks where its regular notebooks have often seen relatively limited success. Toshiba meanwhile occupies fifth place both worldwide and in the US and only considers netbooks a small portion of its business, as most of its sales focus on regular and often large notebooks.
A move of the sort would be the second major consolidation in notebooks following Acer's buyouts of Gateway and Packard Bell. It may create pressure on Dell and Lenovo and could also have an impact on Toshiba's sagging influence on the American market, where Apple is its immediate rival.