Taiwan Steps Up

Taiwan is the world's premier electronics factory, but the world doesn't know it. The island's nimble manufacturers produce more than two-thirds of the globe's LCD monitors, nearly three out of four notebook PCs, and four-fifths of PDAs. Yet most of this digital gear is made under contracts with big foreign tech companies like HP, Apple and Dell and is resold to consumers carrying those well-known brand names. No longer can

Taiwan's electronics makers thrive in anonymity, however. The relentless decline in tech hardware prices is putting pressure on the bottom lineprofit margins on a Taiwan-made notebook PC, for...