Intel has confirmed that its Pentium III chips are in short supply, a situation that will cut demand for Taiwan's high-tech products, industry sources said yesterday.
"If the customer can't buy the [Pentium III] CPU, then they don't want to buy motherboards, or some other PC products," said Tony Yang, Aopen spokesman.
Aopen, a member of the Acer group (
"Supply is a little bit tight now," admitted Intel Taiwan spokeswoman Deborah Yen, who attributed the problem to a forecasting error.
"Forecasts from OEMs [Original Equipment Manufacturers] and our internal forecasts were a little low."
Industry watchers said the shortfall would have ripple-effect in Taiwan, though few were able to say just how big the ripples might be.
"This definitely will affect some of Taiwan's high-tech companies," said Christine Lee, a PC industry analyst at Merrill Lynch. "But I think it will be very short-lived, just a blip. Intel can't afford to make any more mistakes after last year."
Last year, Intel suffered chip shortages and serious problems with the introduction of the new Rambus memory technology.
There are a few alternatives to the high-end Pentium III chips which Intel says are most seriously affected by the shortage. The Athlon CPU manufactured by US-based Advanced Micro Devices is one.
"I think people have been looking at alternatives. But they'll wait and see whether or not to switch over," Lee said.
"The effects of the supply problem are not yet apparent," said Aopen's Yang. "The CPU shortage will impact the motherboard market a little in February and March. But we don't see any problem yet."
Yang was unable to quantify exactly how serious the problem would be for Aopen. In times of shortage, industry insiders say, Intel generally favors larger and more loyal customers at the expense of others.
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