Shipments of notebook computers from the nation are expected to further expand in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, bolstered mainly by the upcoming Christmas period and a slew of lower-priced models, industry analysts said yesterday at a press briefing.
Fourth-quarter shipments for portable computers will reach 15 million to 18 million units, with an output value of US$9.08 billion, according to the latest report from the Market Intelligence Center (MIC,
It represents an increase of 13.7 percent in shipments over the third quarter and a rise of 42.2 percent from the same period of last year, MIC added.
"The Christmas buying season and aggressiveness from vendors promoting lower-end models will remain the two strongest drivers in the fourth quarter," said Cynthia Chyn (秦素霞), the center's deputy general director.
Taiwan, already the world's largest notebook computer manufacturer, will see its market share grow even larger this year, up to 82.41 percent from last year's 72.30 percent, Chyn said.
The gradual replacement of desktops by notebooks, coupled with big names such as Dell Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co pushing cheaper models, are set to benefit Taiwanese vendors, as these companies outsource their production to companies here, she said.
"Currently, there are only a small percentage of Japanese vendors producing notebooks in-house, and South Korean players are slowly withdrawing from the original design manufacturing space, leaving the main chunk of work to Taiwanese vendors," Chyn said.
According to estimates from the Taipei-based market researcher, worldwide notebook shipments will rise by 28.9 percent this year from last year, totaling 59.5 million units. Next year's growth will slow slightly to 19.8 percent.
The replacement trend and low-priced models will continue to be the main factors behind growth next year, but the impact will be minimized since these trends have been taking center stage this year, notebook analyst Albert Chen (陳立恆) said.
However, the shortage of Intel chipsets and an outbreak of avian flu could impact people's willingness to spend, and might prove to be unforeseen hindrances to healthy growth, he said.
Acer Inc, Taiwan's third largest notebook maker by market value, is seen as the rising star among Asian brandname notebook makers, as its shipments are projected to rise by a strong 40 percent next year, he said.
The company's aggressiveness in the low-priced notebook lineup, its understanding of European markets and successful channel deployment will ensure success on the world stage next year, Chen said.
Meanwhile, desktop shipments from Taiwanese companies will hit 10.38 million units in the fourth quarter, expanding by 9.9 percent compared with the same period of last year, MIC's statistics showed.
The growth is attributed to strong demand in emerging markets including central and southern America, and higher spending in the enterprise segment, Chen added.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
ABOVE LEGAL REQUIREMENT: The Ministry of Economic Affairs is prepared if LNG supply is disrupted, with more than the legal requirement of 11 days of inventory Taiwan has largely secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies through May and arranged about half of June’s supply, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. Since the Middle East conflict began on Feb. 28, Taiwan’s LNG inventories have remained more than 12 days, exceeding the legal requirement of 11 days, indicating no major supply concerns for domestic gas and electricity, Kung said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. The ministry aims to increase the figure to 14 days by the end of next year, he said. While one or two LNG or crude oil shipments for May
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
Memory chip stocks extended their losses yesterday after Alphabet Inc’s Google publicized research that could allow more efficient use of the storage needed for artificial intelligence (AI) development. SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, South Korean leaders in the market, fell more than 6 percent and about 5 percent respectively in Seoul. In the US, Micron Technology Inc, Western Digital Corp and Sandisk Corp slid more than 2 percent in pre-market trading, after they all closed lower on Wednesday. Memory companies have been on a tear in recent months as the rapid development of AI infrastructure triggered a spike in chip
RSS