Acer: Up From Clones And Then Some

With less than 1% of the PC market, sluggish sales, inventory problems, and $90 million in losses in the last three years, it seemed Acer Group would never thrive in the U.S. But rather than fade from the scene, Acer actually is digging in and, thanks to a sharp turnaround in the U.S., Taiwan's largest maker of computers and semiconductors expects net profits to triple, to $30 million, this year, on sales of $1.4 billion. That's still a modest profit but a nice change from the $25 million loss of two years ago.

The rebound came from a streamlined assembly process and brisk sales of inexpensive PCs through such chains as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and CompUSA Inc. It also stems from a rush of orders from big-name PC companies that buy from Acer rather than build their own.