Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), the world's second-largest maker of notebook computers, said fourth-quarter laptop sales would rise more than 10 percent from the previous three months.
Shipments of notebooks will also gain 10 percent, Chang Chih-ming (張志銘), head of investor relations at Compal, said yesterday at a briefing in Taipei, where the company is based. Sales in the three months through September were NT$115.4 billion (US$3.6 billion), with shipments of 6.1 million laptops, the computer maker said.
RECORD PROFIT
On Wednesday, Compal posted record third-quarter profit on its highest sales and shipments of laptops to date. Larger rival Quanta Computer Inc (
Average notebook prices will increase this quarter from the previous three months, Compal's Chang said, without elaborating.
The company raised its laptop shipment forecast for this year to 23 million from 22 million, and forecast it would ship 30 million next year, Chief Financial Officer Gary Lu (
NEXT YEAR
Notebook sales in the first three months of next year will fall from the current quarter, Compal president Ray Chen (
The company is targeting a share of 25 percent to 26 percent of the contract laptop market next year, from this year's 20 percent, he said.
Chen said Compal would raise liquid-crystal-display TV shipments fivefold next year to 1 million sets.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
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Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San