INTERVIEW - Delta Elec says PCs, solar to spur sales

By Baker Li and Roger Tung

TAIPEI, July 3 (Reuters) - Taiwan's Delta Electronics Inc, the world's top maker of power supplies for electrical devices, projected strong sales growth for the next five years on renewed demand for personal computers and as its new solar business pays off.

In an interview with Reuters on Friday, Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Yancey Hai said a new generation of low-cost netbooks and power-saving, slim notebook computers would boost demand for Delta's products.

"Clients were very conservative in the fourth quarter (of 2008) and the first quarter (of this year), but if you look at those new designs, you will believe a new market is been created," Hai said, referring to netbooks and ultra-thin laptops.

Delta earns the bulk of its revenue from switching power supplies and some of its parts go into consumer devices, including Apple's notebook PCs and Sony's game consoles.

"We hope to have a more than 20 percent growth (in sales)," Hai said. "That's for the next five years."

"New markets can translate into higher growth, so energy is also a very big market," the banker-turned-executive said at the company's headquarters, the roof of which is covered with silicon solar cells.

The growth rate is faster than an average 10 percent growth in sales projected by Reuters Estimates for Delta in the next three years. But Delta's sales could fall to T$127 billion ($3.86 billion) in 2009, down 11 percent from 2008, the estimates said.

Delta, which has more than T$40 billion in cash on hand, was seeking investment opportunities among solar service companies in the United States and Europe, Hai said, but he declined to give a timetable or to identify potential partners.