Asian companies hope to reap iPad boom

TAIPEI: The iPad may have been designed in the United States, but Apple's money-spinning products are manufactured in the high-tech factories of east Asia.

If the new tablet computer follows the iPhone and iPod by capturing the imagination of consumers around the globe, component makers in Taiwan, China and South Korea will reap the benefits.

"The iPad is likely to stimulate global demand for high-tech products and components," said James Chen, the vice president of Taiwan-based display and touch panel maker Wintek Corp.

Confidentiality agreements between Apple and its suppliers means no company is willing to openly discuss who does what, but analysts are free to make informed guesses.

Wintek is widely seen as a likely supplier of iPad parts, although Chen declined to either confirm or deny the company's involvement.

The new touchscreen device, which was unveiled Wednesday, seeks to establish an entire new category between laptop and smartphone, but it does so by combining well-known components, most of them produced in Asia.

While the touchscreens are widely thought to be made by companies like Wintek, the chips are likely to come from companies such as Japan's Toshiba and South Korea's Samsung Electronics.