IBM Corp is scaling back its in-house personal computer manufacturing and has given Taiwan’s Elitegroup Computer Systems Inc a monster one-year contract for motherboards, Elitegroup told Reuters. The flexible manufacturing contract is worth $100 a board and is for 80486 boards, which makes it sound as if they may be for Thinkpads, many of which have been made in Japan. The order calls for 17,000 boards in March, and may rise to 80,000 in August, with minimum average monthly delivery of 40,000, but the company expects the total order to exceed 600,000, making it worth $60m-plus. Boards are expected to account for 62% of Elitegroup’s 1995 sales; it also makes monitors.
