Quanta Computer Inc., the world's largest supplier of notebook computers, said it will make as many as 10 million low-priced laptops in China next year for a charity that serves children in developing nations.

Quanta will invest US$34 million to buy equipment for a factory it will lease in Changshu city, west of Shanghai, Tim Li, chief financial officer of the Taoyuan, Taiwan-based company said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Quanta in December won the contract from the One Laptop per Child initiative started by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab Chairman Nicholas Negroponte. Li estimated Quanta's sales for the project will be as much as US$1.3 billion next year, or 80 percent of the factory's revenue. The initiative plans to provide 100 million of the US$100 notebook computers to children starting in seven countries China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Nigeria and Thailand.

A fifth of the factory's sales will come from consumer electronics such as digital music players and navigation systems, Li said.

Quanta will make music players to be introduced next year, for a "key client," Li said, without naming the customer. Production of the computers is expected to start by the end of the first quarter next year, he said. The site in Changshu was chosen for its proximity to Shanghai, China's financial capital, and to Kunshan, which is a hub for components suppliers, Li said.

"We'll be the first IT company in Changshu," he said.

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