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An original design manufacturer is a company that designs and manufactures a product that is eventually rebranded by another firm for sale. Such companies allow the firm that owns or licenses the brand to produce products while having to engage in neither the detailed engineering work required to specify a product for manufacturing nor the organization and running of a factory. (The ODM products may be the brand owner's primary business or may be a supplement to another line of business, such as general retailing.) This is in contrast to using a contract manufacturer, where the contracting company would design the product and supply those specifications to the manufacturer.
Original design manufacturers have grown in size in recent years and, as of 2015 [update] , many have the scale to handle production in-house for the products that are branded by the buying firm.
This model is especially used in international trade, where a local original design manufacturer is used to produce goods for a foreign company that sees some advantage in the transaction, such as low labor-inputs, transport links or proximity to markets. Innovative and/or patented technologies developed/owned by the original design manufacturer are another cause for this product distribution model. Original design manufacturer models are also used where local ownership-laws possibly prohibit direct ownership of assets by foreigners, allowing a local firm to produce for a brand company - either for the domestic market or for export.
This type of business is part of "outsourcing". For example: Compal Electronics makes notebook computers and monitors, and operates as a mass producer for numerous brand companies, assisted by low labor-costs, low-cost transport, and the near-commodity nature of the physical inputs (in Compal's case, computer components). As of 2011 [update] , Taiwanese original design manufacturers made ninety-four percent of all notebook computers. [1] Some companies such as Flex and Wistron are both original design manufacturers and providers of Electronics manufacturing services.
Post-2016 Nokia phones (HMD) is an example of a firm which relies on original design manufacturers. In late 2019, it switched from relying on only one original design manufacturer to multiple original design manufacturers. [2]
Original design manufacturers create their own intellectual property and are very proactive in patenting it. Most of their patents are filed in the US, China, and Taiwan.
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, in the Helsinki metropolitan area, but the company's actual roots are in the Tampere region of Pirkanmaa. In 2020, Nokia employed approximately 92,000 people across over 100 countries, did business in more than 130 countries, and reported annual revenues of around €23 billion. Nokia is a public limited company listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki and New York Stock Exchange. It was the world's 415th-largest company measured by 2016 revenues, according to the Fortune Global 500, having peaked at 85th place in 2009. It is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.
An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. The term is also used in several other ways, which causes ambiguity. It sometimes means the maker of a system that includes other companies' subsystems, an end-product producer, an automotive part that is manufactured by the same company that produced the original part used in the automobile's assembly, or a value-added reseller.
Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.
Acer Inc. is a Taiwanese multinational company that produces computer hardware and electronics, headquartered in Xizhi District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Its products include desktop PCs, laptop PCs, tablets, servers, storage devices, virtual reality devices, displays, smartphones, televisions and peripherals, as well as gaming PCs and accessories under its Predator brand. As of 2024, Acer is the world's sixth-largest personal computer vendor by unit sales.
Quanta Computer Incorporated is a Taiwan-based manufacturer of notebook computers and other electronic hardware. Its customers include Apple Inc., Dell, Hewlett-Packard Inc., Acer Inc., Alienware, Amazon.com, Cisco, Fujitsu, Gericom, Lenovo, LG, Maxdata, Microsoft, MPC, BlackBerry Ltd, Sharp Corporation, Siemens AG, Sony, Sun Microsystems, Toshiba, Valve, Verizon Wireless, and Vizio.
Fabless manufacturing is the design and sale of hardware devices and semiconductor chips while outsourcing their fabrication to a specialized manufacturer called a semiconductor foundry. These foundries are typically, but not exclusively, located in the United States, China, and Taiwan. Fabless companies can benefit from lower capital costs while concentrating their research and development resources on the end market. Some fabless companies and pure play foundries may offer integrated-circuit design services to third parties.
Elitegroup Computer Systems Co., Ltd. is a Taiwan-based electronics firm. It is the fifth largest PC motherboard manufacturer in the world, with production reaching 24 million units in 2002.
HTC Corporation, or High Tech Computer Corporation, is a Taiwanese consumer electronics corporation headquartered in Taoyuan District, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Founded in 1997, HTC began as an original design manufacturer and original equipment manufacturer that designed and manufactured laptop computers.
Tyan Computer Corporation is a subsidiary of MiTAC International, and a manufacturer of computer motherboards, including models for both AMD and Intel processors. They develop and produce high-end server, SMP, and desktop barebones systems as well as provide design and production services to tier 1 global OEMs, and a number of other regional OEMs.
A contract manufacturer (CM) is a manufacturer that contracts with a firm for components or products. It is a form of outsourcing. A contract manufacturer performing packaging operations is called copacker or a contract packager. Brand name companies focus on product innovation, design and sales, while the manufacturing takes place in independent factories.
Compal Electronics, Inc. is a Taiwanese original design manufacturer (ODM), handling the production of notebook computers, monitors, tablets and televisions for a variety of clients around the world, including Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc., Acer, Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba, Hewlett-Packard, Fujitsu, and Framework. It also licenses brands of its clients.
Foxconn Precision Industry Co. Ltd., trading as Fushikang Technology Group in China and Taiwan, and known as Foxconn Technology Group internationally, is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer established in 1974 with headquarters in Tucheng District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. In 2023, the company's annual revenue reached 6.16 trillion New Taiwan dollars and was ranked 20th in the 2023 Fortune Global 500. It is the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronics. While headquartered in Taiwan, the company earns the majority of its revenue from assets in China and is one of the largest employers worldwide. Terry Gou is the company founder and former chairman.
Samsung Mobile Division is one of the five divisions within Samsung Electronics, belonging to the Samsung Group, and consists of the Mobile Communications Division, Telecommunication Systems Division, Computer Division, MP3 Business Team, Mobile Solution Centre, and Telecommunication R&D Centre. Telecommunication Business produces a full spectrum of products from mobiles and other mobile devices such as MP3 players and laptop computers to telecommunication network infrastructure. The headquarters is located in Suwon, South Korea.
Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. is an American manufacturer of discrete semiconductors and passive electronic components founded by Polish-born businessman Felix Zandman. Vishay has manufacturing plants in Israel, Asia, Europe, and the Americas where it produces rectifiers, diodes, MOSFETs, optoelectronics, selected integrated circuits, resistors, capacitors, and inductors. Vishay Intertechnology revenues for 2023 were $3.4 billion. At the end of 2023, Vishay had approximately 23,500 full-time employees.
As of 2021, Apple, Inc. uses components from 43 countries. The majority of assembling is done by Taiwanese original design manufacturer firms Foxconn, Pegatron, Wistron and Compal Electronics with factories mostly located inside China, but also Brazil, and India.
Wistron Corporation is an electronics manufacturer based in Taiwan. It was the manufacturing arm of Acer Inc. before being spun off in 2000. As an original design manufacturer, the company designs and manufactures products for other companies to sell under their brand name. Wistron products include notebook and desktop computers, servers, storage, LCD TVs, handheld devices, and devices and equipment for medical applications.
Pegatron Corporation is a Taiwanese electronics manufacturing company that mainly develops computing, communications and consumer electronics for branded vendors. It also develops, designs and manufactures computer peripherals and components. Pegatron's primary products include notebooks, netbook computers, desktop computers, game consoles, handheld devices, motherboards, video cards and LCD TVs, as well as broadband communication products such as smartphones, set-top boxes and cable modems.
Clevo is a Taiwanese OEM/ODM computer manufacturer that produces laptop computers. They sell barebones laptop chassis (barebooks) to value-added resellers who build customized laptops for individual customers.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a South Korean multinational major appliance and consumer electronics corporation founded on 13 January 1969 and headquartered in Yeongtong District, Suwon, South Korea. It is currently the pinnacle of the Samsung chaebol, accounting for 70% of the group's revenue in 2012, and has played a key role in the group's corporate governance due to cross ownership. It is majority-owned by foreign investors.