Notebook computer vendors expect to cash in on the annual IT Month electronics exposition which started Saturday, with unit sales expected to to double on the same period last year due to an improved economic outlook and big discounts, company officials said yesterday.
"The first deal was done on Saturday morning, which is supposed to be a slack time, because most consumers prefer to place orders on the last two days of the show in the hope of a steeper price cut," an Asustek Computer Inc (
Asustek, Taiwan's No.1 laptop vendor in terms of unit sales, sold 500 laptops on the first day, a nearly 43 percent surge from the 350 units recorded last year.
He attributed the surge in IT spending to a better economic outlook and steep price cuts, announced even before the opening of the show.
"We believe the momentum will carry through the following days," he said. Asustek hopes to sell 20,000 laptops at this year's show, up from 10,000 units last year.
Unit sales are expected to continue to rise 10 to 20 percent to about 600 units on the second day of the computer show, said Kevin Lin (
The computer trade show attracted about 65,000 visitors on the first day, according to estimates of the show's organizer, the Taipei Computer Association (TCA, 台北市電腦公會). The association predicted the number of visitors would rise to around 750,000 during the nine-day show, up from 700,000 last year, but due to an hourly 25,000 limitation on visitors due to safety concerns, TCA said a visitor count for the second day would not reflect the true interest in the show.
The US' IBM Corp and Taiwan's Elitegroup Computer Systems Co (ECS,
"Our first day unit sales grew at about 10 percent from last year and sales will continue to grow at least 20 percent today [Sunday], thanks to the improved economy," said Hank Horng (
A representative at Elitegroup's booth -- participating in the annual event for the first time -- said the first day sales were unexpectedly strong.
Big discounts and a major change in people's purchasing habits triggered the buying spree, the unnamed employee said.
"Consumers have changed a lot recently. Most people tend to choose laptops, rather than desktops, for their first personal computer," he explained.
"This trend is in line with the gradual replacement of desktops with laptops," he added.
Elitegroup offered about NT$4,000 in average price cuts. Acer Inc, the most-well-known local PC brand in the world, has offered discounts of between NT$3,000 and NT$6,000.
Despite the sharp price cuts, some consumers are still keeping their buying on hold in anticipation of better bargain prices before the show's conclusion on Nov. 9 in Taipei's World Trade Center.
"I'm here just to check prices. I won't buy anything today. But, I'll come back on the last day because they always offer the best prices at that time," said a young college student surnamed Yang, who plans to buy a new laptop and a digital camera.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San