The nation's contract computer makers are expected to show only moderate growth in the third quarter as the much anticipated back-to-school buying spree may not live up to expectations, a Taipei-based market researcher said yesterday.
"Yes, the seasonal purchase season will arrive, but the strength will not be as strong as we expected earlier this year," said Helen Chiang (江芳韻), a senior analyst with the Market Intelligence Center (MIC, 資訊市場情報中心).
In the three-month period to September, contract notebook computer makers led by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) are expected to increase their shipments by 33 percent into around 8.44 million units from a year earlier, the research house said.
That pace of growth would be slower than the 38 percent annual growth rate in the third quarter of last year, Chiang said.
She blamed excessive optimism and slower-than-expected demand for desktop computer replacement as the main reasons for the revised forecast.
"Though the growth is relatively robust compared with the past years, it is still disappointing," she said.
The center trimmed its forecast for laptop computer shipments this year from 47.5 million units to 46.7 million, which means the annual growth rate will fall by 3 percent to 23 percent from the last estimate.
However, Quanta and smaller rival Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) have not changed their shipment targets for this year. Quanta aims to ship 11 million units and Compal hopes to ship 8 million.
Chiang made the remarks during a press conference yesterday to announce the center's outlook for the nation's information technology (IT) industry. In the second quarter, the IT sector produced US$14.6 billion worth of electronics, up 30.6 percent from a year earlier, largely driven by computer liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors, digital cameras and notebook computers, the center said.
Looking ahead, MIC said local companies' production value and shipments will grow, fueled by back-to-school demand.
Notebook computer shipments bounced back to 7.41 million units during the quarter that ended June, up 32.4 percent from a year ago, on rising orders from computer giants Dell Inc and Toshiba Corp, Chiang said.
Output in terms of annual sales also rose by 30.5 percent to US$4.87 billion, according to the center's figures. While shipments of thin and light laptops increased 26.1 percent in the second quarter from the first, multi-media function-equipped models designed to replace desktops slipped 9.1 percent, the center said.
The back-to-school season will also give a boost to local contract desktop computer makers, it said.
Local laptop computer makers are expected to show a 12.1 percent rise in shipments to 8.63 million units in the quarter to next month, versus 7.7 million units a year ago.
The seasonal demand will also help local firms work their way through stockpiles of LCD monitors built up in the slack second quarter, said Lina Li (勵秀玲), a MIC industry analyst.
Local companies shipped 10.5 million LCD monitors during the second quarter, Li said.
The output value increased to US$3.5 billion.
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
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by