In an apparent move to keep manufacturing costs in check, Acer has decided to include Taiwan's Quanta Computer as a contract notebook manufacturer along with Wistron and Compal Electronics. Quanta reportedly will begin small shipments to Acer in autumn this year, but bulk shipments will not start until 200333. By then, Acer's 1.2 million to 1.5 million unit notebook orders per year will be shared by the three companies, and Acer will become the second global top ten notebook vendor, after Dell Computer, to contract production from Taiwan's top three notebook manufacturers.

Spreading orders among these three will enable Acer to take full advantage of each partner's strengths and achieve optimum overall results in component and final product purchasing and distribution. For example, Acer can select from its contractors' existing notebook computers, which have already been used by other clients, and change their design appearance and other feature a little to make them new products and market them within a short time, saving costs for a development from the ground up, while the contract manufacturers can still sell the original models to other customers.

TravelMate, a notebook brand jointly created by Acer and Wistron, has already become well-known all over the world. However, Acer, by its new move, is demonstrating closer cooperation with Compal, as the TravelMate 720 series will be the first notebook not manufactured by Wistron.