In its rush to get CULV-based notebooks onto the market, it’s been rumoured that HP has resorted to using chassis designs from existing notebooks.

It’s expected that roughly 10m laptops based on Intel’s CULV platform will be shipped this year, according to Asian memory market watcher DRAMeXchange.

So by making use of existing notebook designs, HP can get CULV-based machines to market more quickly and cheaply than if it started the design process from scratch.

But that doesn’t mean HP hasn’t inked plans to manufacture brand-new CULV notebooks.

Sources at Taiwan-based notebook maker also told website DigiTimes that the firm will introduce a newly designed range of ultra-thin CULV notebooks during the fourth quarter of 2009.

HP’s already declined to comment. ®