Advantech has surpassed Kontron to become the world's number two manufacturer of industrial PCs (IPCs), according to a report by the China Economic News Service. The company enjoyed year-on-year growth greater than 50 percent during the first ten months of this year, the report adds.

Advantech's IPCs, like the recent ARK-5260 (pictured at right), as well as a wide variety of motherboards, panel PCs, and other devices, are regular visitors to LinuxDevices.com, so we were already well aware of the company's success. But the new report by CENS claims Advantech has now surpassed Kontron to become the world's number two IPC manufacturer.

Writer Ben Shen doesn't provide a strict definition of what constitutes an industrial PC, but notes that Advantech offers product lines and services that are similar to Kontron's. During the third quarter, he adds, Advantech scored global sales of NT $6.9 billion, while Kontron's were 133 million Euros (about NT $5.5 billion).

During the first ten months of this year, according to Shen, Advantech registered NT $18.75 billion in sales. That amounted to "a whopping 51.39 percent growth year-on-year," he adds.

According to Shen, the number one IPC manufacturer globally remains NCR, which had NT $37 billion (about $1.21 billion U.S.) in sales during the third quarter. For its part, NCR announced last month that it is the largest ATM supplier globally, with an installed base of 29.5 percent. (NCR also said more than 2 million ATMs existed worldwide in 2009, a sharp contrast from the 284,000 such devices that were available 20 years earlier.)

CENS says that apart from Advantech, Taiwan's other top IPC firms are Adlink Technology, Flytech Group International, and ICP Electronics, Inc. However, Advantech's sales exceeded the combined sales of the other three in October, according to Shen.

Shen adds that Advantech has engaged in multiple acquisitions this year to expand its global presence, including that of DLoG of Germany and Innocore of England. Most recently, the company acquired Taiwan's ACA Digital, which manufactures ruggedized tablet PCs, handhelds, and PDAs.

Further information

Ben Shen's report on Advantech sales can be found on the CENS website, here. A separate report on the company's acquisition of ACA Digital may be found on the Australian Electronics News website, here.

Corporate background on Advantech and ACA Digital may be found on the companies' websites here and here, respectively.

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