First International Computer (FIC), a second-tier Taiwan-based ODM of PCs and consumer electronics, has downsized its notebook business group personnel by nearly 100 employees to cope with shrinking orders, according to the company.

FIC will ship fewer than 500,000 notebooks in 2010, according to estimates by industry sources.

FIC will maintain ODM production of notebooks for clients in Latin America and other regions and shift focus to tablet PCs, e-book readers, industrial PCs and green-energy devices, the company indicated.

FIC has cooperated with Hanvon Technology, the largest vendor of e-book readers in China, and started shipping products on an ODM basis to Hanvon earlier in December, FIC pointed out. FIC has also become a Taiwan sales agent of green-energy products for Honeywell and Tridium.