If Hewlett-Packard sells off some or all of its non-printing consumer hardware business, the most likely buyer is probably Samsung. And the Korean hardware giant has reportedly reached out to Taiwanese notebook vendors to explore just that. According to Digitimes’ sources, Samsung met with top HP notebook contractor Quanta Computer, as well as Compal Electronics and Pegatron Technology, to discuss outsourcing notebook orders. All three companies are based in Taiwan, while Samsung currently manufactures all of its computers in mainland China. To these sources (upstream vendors in the PC component industry), this signals something bigger than just Samsung trolling for new subcontractors: Samsung “seem(s) like it is already in preparation to take up Hewlett-Packard’s (HP’s) PC business.” It’s best known for its wide range of consumer electronics hardware, but Samsung already ships 10 million laptops annually (a projected 16-17 million this year), still a fraction of the 64 million PCs and 40 million laptops HP shipped in 2010. Samsung is also a leading manufacturer of memory, hard drives, screens, batteries and other computer components; control of HP’s PCs would give them a huge outlet for those products and plenty of opportunities to cut costs through vertical integration. Finally, unlike HP, Samsung is firmly committed to (and has found great success in) low-margin, high-volume hardware. As we reported last week, rumors of an HP-Samsung deal have been circulating in Taiwan and the tech press since 2010. Reportedly, a deal to sell the PC division was in place then, but fell through; after rumors of a continued deal reemerged in March, HP flatly denied it. Since HP’s announcement last week that it was looking to separate part or all of its Personal Services Group, speculation about a Samsung deal has started again. As ZDNet UK’s Jack Schofield writes, “Samsung may be the only PC company that has the money, that is big enough to absorb PSG, and that would actually want it”:
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