Acer and Asustek Computer will send staff members to visit Brazil and Argentina in early October to establish supply chains and sales channels there, according to industry sources.

Acer has had its Taiwan-based ODM maker Compal Electronics assemble barebone systems and components shipped from China into notebooks in Brazil and will increase such production in the second half of 2012, the sources indicated.

Asustek will also have Compal begin ODM production of a notebook featuring AMD processors and a 14-inch screen in Brazil in October, the sources pointed out.

There were 3.86 million PCs sold in Brazil in the second quarter of 2011, growing 7% on quarter and 12% on year and becoming the world's third-largest market next only to China and the US, the sources cited IDC statistics as indicating. Notebooks accounted for 51% of the PC sales volume, and a projected 7.2 million notebooks will be sold in the Brazil market in 2011, the sources noted.

The Brazil government sets high customs tariffs for notebooks to protect local producers, and therefore international vendors have to assemble imported components into notebooks in Brazil to avoid customs duties, the sources pointed out. The Argentina government plans to follow suit, the sources indicated.