Taiwanese PC makers and major component suppliers, including handset chip maker MediaTek Inc (聯發科) and panel maker AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), are expected to benefit from China’s latest $4 trillion yuan (US$570 billion) economic stimulus package primarily by boosting electronics spending in rural areas, a local research house said.
Taiwanese manufacturers will get a much-needed boost from this economic stimulus plan as orders plunged on shrinking demand in the US and Europe amid the global financial crisis, Taipei-based Topology Research Institute (拓墣產業研究所) said in a report released last week.
“With strong cost-saving ability, Taiwanese companies may grab more orders as their major PC customers such as Dell Inc and Hewlett Packard Co have joined the bid [to supply PCs in China’s remote areas],” Topology analyst Jeter Chang (張瑞華) said in the report.
Topology expects that local PC makers, including Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), this year may increase their notebook computer shipments by 2.5 million units helped by demand from China’s rural areas, boosting revenues by NT$38 billion.
To spur economic growth, Beijing has pledged to boost sales of 10 electronics goods ranging from mobile phones and refrigerators to PCs and automobiles via subsidies equal to 13 percent of the purchase amount in rural areas, the report said.
Topology expects the spending stimulus plan to boost electronics spending by around NT$3.6 trillion during the four-year period starting this year.
In addition to PC companies, Taiwanese liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel makers, including the nation’s two largest LCD suppliers, AU Optronics and Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), have secured NT$5.55 billion in orders from Chinese TV vendors this year, Topology’s report said.
Late last month, Chi Mei said new demand from China would help expand its revenues from China to around 25 percent or 35 percent of its total revenues from 15 percent or 20 percent last year, making China either the biggest or the second-biggest export destination for its products.
MediaTek, which is the top handset chip supplier in China, will be the biggest beneficiary of the drive to spur mobile phone purchases as it is supplying chips to 10 out of the 13 mobile phone makers that have won the bid to supply handsets, Topology said.
Sitronix Technology Corp (矽創) and Orise Technology Co Ltd (旭曜), which make drive ICs used in mobile phone screens, have also landed big orders this year by supplying 70 percent of panel drive ICs for the 1 million handset sales target in China’s remote areas, Topology’s report said.
In addition to the short-term boost in orders, China’s four-year plan to boost electronics spending in rural areas “also opens a door to Taiwanese brand-name electronics makers to build a foothold there,” Chang said.
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