Apple to Build Five Million iPads in First Half 2010, Analyst Says
Apple (AAPL) is on track to build five million iPads in the first half of 2010, according to FBR Capital chip analyst Craig Berger.
“We believe various news articles and competitor notes calling for a build delay were just false alarms,” he writes. The company, of course, has now set an April 3 launch for Wi-Fi versions of the iPad, with 3G versions to ship toward the end of April. Berger, who tracks the chip industry, thinks many iPhone component suppliers will also sell into the iPad, including Infineon (IFX), Skyworks (SKWS), Triquint (TQNT), Broadcom (BRCM) and Texas Instruments (TXN). Production in the 4-5 million unit range would “drive some material revenues” for these companies, he says, “particularly BRCM.”
Meanwhiile, Berger has revised his estimates on iPod, iPhone, notebook and desktop builds.