■ Computer sales rise
The nation's computer sales posted growth in the fourth quarter of last year thanks to soaring notebook sales, International Data Corp Taiwan said yesterday. The combined volumes of desktops and notebooks hit 721,655 units in the last three months, up 3.9 percent from the same period a year ago, the research firm said. Overall, sales volume of portable computers totaled 228,614 units, demonstrating an annual growth of 34.2 percent. The top five notebook vendors were Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), Acer Inc, Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想), Hewlett-Packard Taiwan and Toshiba Corp. "As widescreen laptops accounted for over 50 percent of all notebook sales for the first time, they will most likely become the mainstream models in the near term," IDC Taiwan analyst Sunny Chen (陳睿聆) said.
■ UMC sales fall
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) yesterday said its sales fell to NT$7.52 billion (US$231.4 million) last month from NT$8.41 billion in January, but were up 22.50 percent from a year earlier. Its sales for the first two months of the year rose to NT$15.93 billion from NT$13.28 billion in the same period last year.
■ NT dollar declines
The New Taiwan dollar traded down on its US counterpart yesterday, declining NT$0.056 to close at NT$32.529 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
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