Hewlett-Packard seems determined to prevent ASUS from becoming the fourth largest notebook vendor in the world. HP has been reportedly threatening its manufacturing partners that it would reduce orders in case they worked with ASUS as well. The news comes from notebook market sources and HP hasn’t commented on the issue yet, but it could turn into a legal dispute if proved accurate.

ASUS revealed its plans to become the worldwide fourth largest notebook vendor next year. Following ASUS' announcements, HP is reported to have sent notice to its partners and that the vendors asked manufacturers not to take orders from ASUS. DigiTimes reports that sources among notebook makers stated that HP also told its partners that it planned to reduce its outsource volume in case they disrespected the demand.

According to DigiTimes, there are also voices that consider HP's move unnecessary. Currently, Hewlett-Packard is the first worldwide maker of personal computers. During the third quarter of the year, the vendor shipped 14.784 million of personal computers and held 18.4% of the market. On the other hand, ASUS has only a small market share globally and is not a direct threat to HP. The logical move for the No. 1 vendor would be to attack Acer or Lenovo, which are placed among the top notebook vendors and have also entered the competition on the desktop market.

But HP would have a better chance to undermine ASUS, which has a market share smaller than Toshiba's (4.6 percent), and gain in sales. Acer and Lenovo hold the third and fourth positions on the market, respectively, while controlling 12.5 percent (Acer) and 7.3 percent (Lenovo), and attacking them would be a rather difficult task.

Neither Hewlett-Packard nor ASUS has commented on the news-story. While waiting for statements from them, some voices expressed their fears that this may turn into an aggressive legal dispute between the two vendors in case HP is proved to have tried to undermine ASUS.