You'd think a manufacturer with more than $10 billion in sales would line up executives to trumpet its success.

But when it comes to Taiwan-based Quanta Computer Inc., the biggest original design manufacturer (ODM), think again. Indeed, the world's largest builder of notebook PCs is either very secretive or simply does not care about getting the word out. Requests for interviews with chief executive Barry Lam or CTO C.C. Leung fell on deaf ears. Calls went unreturned and its Web site does not contain a detailed company history.

"Chances are, you are not going to talk to anybody there," says Adam Pick, iSuppli senior analyst, electronics manufacturing services (EMS) and ODM.

According to Business Week, Quanta has been in business since 1988 when Lam left handheld calculator manufacturer Kimpo, which he grew into the top contract calculator manufacturer worldwide. Barely 10 years later, Quanta's net sales eclipsed $280 million, and it was on its way to becoming the number one revenue producer in the ODM marketplace, according to BusinessWeek.

By making notebooks for large OEMs like Dell, HP, IBM and Gateway, Quanta has established itself as the ODM leader. If you have a Dell notebook PC, chances are good Quanta make it. THT Business Research says one out of every four notebook computers in the world is made by Quanta.

"We typically are working with folks like Quanta and Compal," says Dell chief technology officer Kevin Kettler.

According to iSuppli, the ODM category includes "companies that invest in research activities to develop own design of electronics products and subsequently manufacture these products to sell under the brand name of an Original Equipment Manufacturer."

Quanta also manufactures and designs network servers, set-top boxes, monitors, optical storage products, liquid-crystal display TVs and mobile phone handsets.

While Quanta relies heavily on notebooks as it mainstay offering, it expects handset, server and LCD TV shipments to increase this year as well. According to investor relations data on its Web site, handset shipments are targeted to increase by at least 18%, with servers and LCD TVs at 27% and 82%, respectively.

The ODM marketplace is poised to grow from $30 billion in 2002 to $90 billion in 2007—a compound annual growth rate of 17%, according to iSuppli. Despite the anticipated revenue increase of 300% in five years, profit margins for Quanta and its competitors (such as Compal and Lite-On) have "fallen off a cliff," says Pick, with Quanta's margins coming in at only 6% in 2004 despite having a record year for revenue growth.

While lower margins are indicative of a maturing industry, ODM leader Quanta needs to focus on being the best operating company in its field by charging a premium for more sophisticated products, says Pick. And the best way for it to do this is to diversify.

"Quanta needs to focus on diversifying because notebook computers are becoming a commodity, and people can get them just about anywhere cheaply," says Pick. "They are now starting to look into alternative product categories with storage display groups and handset groups. Quanta needs to mitigate risk by looking for other opportunities with higher margins, such as networking and medical technology products."

On the research side, Quanta formed an alliance with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in April called T-Party. The $20 million project focuses on the development of future computing and communications platforms.

Jeff Berman is a news editor for EDN.