TAIPEI -- Foxconn Electronics will produce more than one million notebook computers for Sony this year,  the majority share on the Japan consumer electronics outsourced PCs.

Asian media source DigiTimes reported sources at Taiwan notebook makers as saying that the electronics manufacturing services provider will produce more than half of Sony's outsourced orders in 2006.

Foxconn's share is expected to grow in 2007 while rival Asustek Computer's contract-manufacturing deal may end.

Last year, Foxconn built between 400,000 to 500,000 units for Sony, DigiTimes reported.

The deal may cement the relationship between Sony, long the top name among Japan's electronics OEMs, and Foxconn, the world's largest EMS provider. Foxconn reportedly ordered more than 2,000  placement machines from Sony last year, to be delivered over a 30-month span.

For its part, Asustek has been building its own line of branded notebook PCs, and is on pace to overtake Sony in that department.

Sony is forecast to ship 2.4 million to 2.8 million notebooks worldwide this year, and three million next year. According to research group IDC, Sony shipped between 2 million and 2.4 million units last year.

Another major Sony vendor, Quanta, shipped an estimated 400,000 units in 2005 and is on pace to do the same this year, DigiTimes reported.

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