Computer vendors are counting on government purchases to lift shipments in the second half of the year as the government's purchasing arm outlined its budget for technology product procurement.
"Demand in the commercial sector for the first six months was slow. We look forward to the new tender process from the government," said Dennis Chen (
The Central Trust of China (中央信託局) yesterday finalized the price points for its upcoming purchases of different products, including computers, digital cameras and liquid-crystal-display (LCD) monitors, after opening its tender process late last month and receiving bids from several companies.
Taipei-based Central Trust, whose operations include banking, insurance, trade and warehousing, is in charge of purchasing computers and other products for government agencies and schools.
Technology companies look forward to these purchases, as they easily take up about 40 percent of the nation's commercial PC sales and about 10 percent of its LCD monitor sales.
Vendors expect the government orders to boost their shipments, although these orders come with lower profit margins.
"Despite the launch of Microsoft's Vista operating system and Intel's Santa Rosa platform early this year, the commercial sector has yet to upgrade to new PCs," Chen said.
Demand from the commercial sector -- especially the government -- will therefore be a key to shipment growth in the next few months, he said.
Chen Chien-Liang (陳建良), a Central Trust official who manages the tender process, refused to give an estimate on the planned purchase, i.e. the 13th tender, when contacted by the Taipei Times.
"It is hard to tally the figure," as the latest tender will go on for six months, Chen Chien-Liang said.
In the 12th tender initiated last November, the government bought more than 30,000 desktops, 5,000 notebooks, 3,000 servers and30,000 LCD monitors, Central Trust statistics showed.
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