Asustek Computer Inc (
"We expect business performance will not be bad this quarter," said Sunny Han (韓德行), Asustek's global brand marketing director.
He made the remarks on the sidelines of a product launch yesterday, where Asustek unveiled a new 14-inch laptop computer incorporating a 3.5-generation network module for high-speed Internet surfing.
Han said that sales would be down by approximately 15 percent quarter-on-quarter for the first three months -- a traditionally slow period after the Christmas spending spree in the previous quarter.
Computer makers expect that the launch of the Vista operating system on Jan. 30 will tempt consumers into buying new PCs.
Commercial users, however, will adopt the operating system later, when the system is proven to be more stable and reliable, he said.
Asustek, which also makes Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 game consoles and Apple Inc's iPod Shuffle, is also counting on the"digital home" concept to boost sales.
Jonathan Tsang (
In terms of the local notebook market, Asustek said it expects to maintain its leadership by selling 350,000 units -- up 25 percent compared with last year.
Asustek posted strong consolidated sales of NT$542 billion (US$16.5 billion) last year, up 52 percent from a year ago. Its revenues for last month increased to NT$61.42 billion from NT$26.92 billion a year earlier.
Shipments of Asustek laptops -- both own brand and contract made -- grew 50 percent last year to 5.6 million units. The company said it could ship 9 million units this year.
Motherboard shipments grew 7 percent to 55.5 million units, falling short of its 60 million target last year, Asustek said.
Macquarie Research Equities said in a report yesterday it believes Asustek will continue to outperform due to its strong growth momentum and attractive valuation.
"We now believe Asustek's sales may only decline slightly this quarter, after its strong performance in the last quarter last year," Macquarie said.
Investors should overlook the short-term motherboard issue, where the shipments weakened, as the company's other businesses were doing well, the report said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last