Asustek is quite successful with their ASUS notebook lineup built by their own notebook manufacturing unit Asusalpha. For some companies the reason for this is crystal clear. You should know that companies like Dell, Apple, Sony and Toshiba don't have the capacities to manufacture their notebooks, gaming consoles and whatnot themselves. So they order them from companies like Asustek (PS3), Asusalpha (iBook), Hon Hai Precision Industry aka Foxconn Electronics (Mac mini, Power Mac series) or Quanta (Powerbook 17"). With that in mind it sounds quite logical that Asustek's notebooks are that successful - ASUS started to compete against its own clients and enjoys great economies of scale with that.
Dell now demands Asustek to spinoff its own notebook brand unit until Q1 2008 or they will hire another manufacturer. Apple's orders end this November with new ones still in question and Toshiba is limiting it's orders in the future. That said Asusalpha's future doesn't look that bright it seems. The question is if the total separation from Asustek is the right way to counter that trend. Source: Digitimes and X-bit labs