Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), the world’s largest contract notebook maker, yesterday said component and labor shortages would not affect its target of shipping as many as 48 million portable computers this year.
“The downsides of component and labor shortages were already factored in for the whole-year target of our notebook shipments,” the company’s president Ray Chen (陳瑞聰) said.
Labor shortages across the supply chain in eastern China — where most of the world’s laptop computers are produced — are expected to be completely resolved by the middle of this month, Chen told an investor conference.
Compal’s facilities in Kunshan were short-staffed in January, when some staffers left early for the Lunar New Year holidays. But the manpower shortage was resolved late last month when workers returned and the company took in new staff, he said.
Its suppliers, which also faced labor shortages, are expected to be fully staffed by the middle of this month, he said.
Notebook makers are also grappling with a shortage of components, including memory chips, capacitors and panels.
“We will closely follow up on panel supply after Thursday’s earthquake,” Chen said. “Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp [奇美電子] will lose three production days, which is quite significant.”
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit southern Taiwan early on Thursday morning, causing some shutdowns and staff evacuations for companies located in the southern science parks.
Chip and panel makers estimated their production would be delayed by at least one day as a result.
Shipments of Compal’s portable computers grew 49 percent year-on-year to 37.9 million units last year, unseating Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) as the biggest maker of notebook computers.
Compal yesterday said it would maintain its forecast for notebook shipments of between 46 million units and 48 million units this year.
Quanta chairman Barry Lam (林百里) said at the company’s year-end dance-and-dinner party last month that the company aimed to increase laptop computer shipments by 40 percent this year, to 50 million.
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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