Local PC shipments pick up speed in Q3

Domestic PC sales picked up in the third quarter, fueled by large orders from the government and back-to-school demand, according to a report released by the International Data Corp (IDC) yesterday.

The growth momentum will likely continue into the fourth quarter and early next year, bolstered by various discounts offered during IT Month, a month-long exposition that commences today, and the launch of Microsoft Corp's Windows Vista operating system late next month, the report said.

Shipments of desktops and laptops increased a sequential 26 percent to 705,780 units in the third quarter. On a year-on-year basis, however, the figure still represented an 8 percent fall from the same period last year, IDC said.

The Central Trust of China (中信局), which is in charge of purchasing computers and other products for government agencies and schools, started placing orders in May through the end of the year. Public procurement was estimated to account for 40 percent of commercial demand.

Though affected by the rash of consumer credit card abuse, PC sales still benefited from the back-to-school season in August and September, according to the report.

The rise in notebook computer shipments outpaced industry growth, with laptop sales jumping 42 percent sequentially to 228,404 units in the third quarter, the report said. On a year-on-year basis, however, notebook shipments were down 9 percent from a year ago.

Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) topped the list of notebook suppliers in the last quarter, followed by Acer Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co and Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想), IDC said.

Buoyed by PC shipments' positive performance in the third quarter, investment research firm Merrill Lynch raised its PC unit growth forecast this quarter to 6 percent quarter-on-quarter, up from its previous prediction of 3 percent, it said in a report released yesterday.

The research firm cited improving central processing unit supply for the clone motherboard market for desktop computers from the second half of October and continued strength in notebook computers as the main factors that would push up PC shipments this quarter.

The share prices of major PC vendors are expected to outperform into late this quarter or even up till next quarter with the launch of Vista and Intel Corp's Santa Rosa platform for notebook computers in early second quarter next year, it said.

Shares of Asustek dropped 0.45 percent to close at NT$88.50 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday, underperforming the benchmark index, which rose 0.61 percent.