The total production value of Taiwan's computer hardware fell 13 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2001 to US$17.1 billion because of slow demand, the Market Intelligence Center (市場情報中心) under the Institute for Information Industry (資策會) reported yesterday.
Among the most important industries to be hit by the slowdown, the net value of notebook computer production slumped 16.9 percent in the first half of the year thru June 30 to US$5.8 billion, as shipments fell 4 percent to 6.2 million units.
For the entire year, the center expects Taiwanese manufacturers to produce 13.1 million notebooks, 380,000 more than last year -- but for 11 percent less cash than last year.
"These [estimates] sound reasonable," said Amy Teng, a researcher at market data group Gartner/Dataquest in Taipei, comparing the results to those collected by Dataquest.
Looking to the future, Taiwan will retain its worldwide ranking as the No. 1 notebook computer manufacturer for the next few years, but starting this year, production will slowly drift to China, according to the center. Taiwan accounts for about 52 percent of global notebook shipments.
Desktop computer production fared little better than notebooks. Total production value of desktops dropped 14.1 percent in the first half of this year, to US$3.1 billion on production of 12 million PCs, the center said.
More optimistically, the center reported that two up and coming products raked in big production value gains in the first half of the year, liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors and digital still cameras. The value of LCD screen production rose 36.1 percent to US$1.1 billion, while digital still cameras brought in US$484 million, a 169 percent increase over the same time last year.
The production value of scanners fell 32.8 percent to US$365 million.
"Between 70 percent and 80 percent of scanner production in China is controlled by Taiwanese firms," said Yvonne Chen (
Taiwan's motherboard industry, which makes the circuit boards that house microprocessors, computer memory chips and other vital organs of the PC, is also on the move to China -- and many analysts say when it goes, semiconductors will follow. Motherboard production value dropped a modest 0.4 percent to US$2.5 billion in the first half of the year, with shipments falling 1.4 percent to 36.6 million units.
The center estimates Taiwan's share of the motherboard industry will drop to 66.2 percent this year from 70.2 percent last year due to the shifting of production to China. According to center analyst Stanley Su, this move across the Strait will "be a lot greater" next year.
For the full year, the center expects the net production value of Taiwan's IT hardware products to total US$37.7 billion, posting an 8.4 percent year-on-year decline.
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