The Information Technology 100
88
BenQ
On June 7, BenQ suddenly became the world’s fourth largest cellular-phone maker by acquiring the ailing handset division of German giant Siemens. Like other Taiwanese companies, BenQ has been trying to escape from the anonymity of contract manufacturing by promoting its own brands. But BenQ’s experience illustrates some of the perils these companies face.
The consumer-electronics company, which sells LCD TVs, PC monitors, MP3 players, and other gadgets, has won permission from the Chinese government to sell its own-brand cellular handsets in China. But entering the world’s biggest cellular market comes at a price: Motorola, which once used BenQ as a supplier, isn’t so interested in giving orders to a company that's now a direct competitor. BenQ has tried to make up for some of the Motorola loss with orders from the likes of Nokia and Kyocera, but its handset business is still smarting, with first-quarter sales amounting to 11% of total sales, down from 15% the previous quarter. With the Siemens deal, BenQ took a big step toward solving that problem.
Company Info
| STOCK INFO | NA |
| Revenues* | $5.2 BILLION |
| Revenue Growth | 36.3% |
| Return on Equity | 15.5% |
| Total Return | -11.8% |
| Profits* | $228.4 MILLION |
| Industry | COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS |
| CORPORATE WEB SITE | |
All figures are for the most recent available 12 months.
* Latest available data for the 12-month period ended Dec. 31, Jan. 31, Feb. 29, Mar. 31, or Apr. 30. For companies that do not report quarterly, the most recent annual data were used.
Data provided by Standard & Poor's Compustat, BusinessWeek
Who's Who In Taiwan?
Why Taiwan Matters
Company Snapshot
Benq Corp. manufactures technology products, including communication and personal computer related products. Its principal products include LCD/TFT monitors, plasma TVs, CD/DVD rewriters, flash drives, MP3 players, digital projectors, scanners and printers, digital hubs, routers and wireless LAN, and mobile phones. It mainly operates in Taiwan, Canada, the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, China, India, Singapore, Japan, and Australia. The company was established in 1984 and is headquartered in Taiwan.
No. of Employees
NA
Data provided by 
K. Y. Lee
Bio
K. Y. Lee serves as a Director, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Benq Corp. Mr. Lee holds MBA from Switzerland IMD and B.S. in Electrical Engineering from National Taiwan University. He was Vice President of Acer PC Product Marketing; Chairman of AU Optronics Corp. and BenQ Mobile System; Director of Darfon Electrics Corp.Daxon Technology Inc. and Airoha Technology Inc.