Compaq has admitted that it does not build its own notebooks, following Saturday's armed robbery of £1 million of kit in Cheshire. The PC giant came clean last night, telling The Register that the notebook base parts that were stolen in transit were actually the property of Taiwanese OEM Inventec. Last month, The Register revealed which Taiwanese OEMs were making notebooks for which big name PC companies. Compaq has long maintained that it was the manufacturer of its notebooks; product manager after product manager has trotted out the same spin that the Big Q is responsible for the design and build of its products. Now that's all changed. The theft of Inventec built notebooks en route for final assembly and then delivery to Compaq has prompted Compaq to confirm the truth behind its notebooks. "The inventory belonged to Inventec - a Compaq alliance partner - but the product was destined for Compaq customers," a Compaq representative said. "Inventec has advised Compaq of this loss, and contacted the police." ®