The nation's PC shipments grew 4 percent in the third quarter as consumers upgraded to Vista-enabled PCs, market researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said yesterday, adding that the momentum would carry into this quarter because of seasonal demand.
Traditionally strong PC year-end sales will be further boosted by strong orders from government agencies in a hurry to use up their budgets before the year's end, IDC said, predicting overall PC shipments would increase another 4 percent annually, or 25 percent quarterly, in the fourth quarter.
IDC did not, however, expect the annual information technology device fair IT Month to result in a significant boost to PC sales, said analyst Dickie Chang, based in Taipei.
Chang did not expect shortages of components such as battery packs to impact on PC shipments this quarter.
Last quarter, PC vendors including the top two brands Asustek Computer Inc (
"PC sales regained momentum in the third quarter as consumers become better acquainted with Vista's functions," Chang said.
Consumers were hesitant when Microsoft Corp launched its new operating system in the first quarter and have waited to see how well the system performs before upgrading to Vista-enabled computers, Chang said.
A healthy stock market in the first half of the year also lifted PC sales, as investors were more willing to spend on electronic devices, he said.
In the laptop market, shipments grew faster than predicted at 13 percent year-on-year, or 41 percent at a quarterly rate, to 257,352 units in the third quarter.
The growth was fueled by demand for new products launched by top vendors, IDC said, citing Acer's Gemstone series.
Government agencies' purchases also helped boost laptop sales, IDC said.
The market researcher said there have been no significant changes to the ranking of top PC makers, with Asustek and Acer still the nation's top two brands.
Shipments of desktop computers, meanwhile, expanded 18 percent quarter-on-quarter to 478,473 units last quarter.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
PRESSURE EXPECTED: The appreciation of the NT dollar reflected expectations that Washington would press Taiwan to boost its currency against the US dollar, dealers said Taiwan’s export-oriented semiconductor and auto part manufacturers are expecting their margins to be affected by large foreign exchange losses as the New Taiwan dollar continued to appreciate sharply against the US dollar yesterday. Among major semiconductor manufacturers, ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services provider, said that whenever the NT dollar rises NT$1 against the greenback, its gross margin is cut by about 1.5 percent. The NT dollar traded as strong as NT$29.59 per US dollar before trimming gains to close NT$0.919, or 2.96 percent, higher at NT$30.145 yesterday in Taipei trading
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