AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the world's No. 3 maker of flat-panel displays, said it may cut its profit forecast for the full year as prices decline and orders for the year-end holiday season fail to materialize.
Net income for 2002 may be less than NT$14.3 billion (US$410 million) forecast in April, Au Optronics President Chen Hsuan-bin (
Third-quarter sales will be 20 percent lower than the NT$22.7 billion (US$650 million) reached in the second quarter, he said.
Hsinchu-based AU Optronics may follow local rival HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶) in lowering profit estimates. Earnings weakened after growth in flat-screen prices stalled during the middle of the year as a faltering global economy prompted companies to hold back computer orders.
"This year has totally changed from last year," Chen said. "We are waiting for signals from the Christmas season."
The price of a 15-inch flat screen has declined by 25 percent to US$200 from US$265 in July, Vice President David Chu (朱克泰) said.
Prices rose from US$200 in the fourth quarter last year after sales of the notebook computers and desktop displays that use the panels increased.
AU Optronics posted a first-half profit of NT$5.9 billion after computer makers such as Apple Computer Inc introduced new models that use flat screens and consumers replaced bulkier monitors with thinner panels.
Prices took a dip as personal-computer demand failed to rebound, belying expectations. Sales of personal computers declined in the second quarter, according to International Data Corp. That was the fifth straight quarterly drop. Last year, computer sales shrank for the first time since 1985.
International Data this month lowered its growth forecast for 2002 personal-computer shipments to 1.1 percent, or 135.5 million units, from the 4.7 percent growth it predicted in June.
It cut its estimate for 2003 to 8.4 percent from 11.1 percent.
RSS