The output value of the local communications equipment sector rose 16 percent in the second quarter of this year from a year earlier on the back of strong demand for consumer electronics products, a government report said yesterday.
In the April to June period, increasing demand for mobile phones and wireless local area network (WLAN)-related products boosted the production value of the local communications equipment sector to NT$191.5 billion (US$6 billion), according to the quarterly report released by the Industry and Technology Intelligence Service (ITIS).
The second-quarter figure was also 16.9 percent higher than the first quarter of this year, the report said.
ITIS is a research institute at the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Department of Industrial Technology.
The report said the output value of the mobile phone segment totaled NT$78 billion in the second quarter of this year, up 34.3 percent from a year earlier and 8 percent higher sequentially.
Smartphones accounted for more than 70 percent of the production value of the mobile phone segment during the second quarter, the institute said.
The production value of the global positioning system (GPS) segment reached NT$33.5 billion in the second quarter, up 52.3 percent from the first quarter, but down 2.9 percent from a year earlier, it said.
The production value of the WLAN segment rose 42.8 percent from a year earlier and 5 percent from the previous quarter to NT$19.8 billion in the second quarter, the report added.
The digital subscriber line consumer premise equipment segment totaled NT$12.7 billion during the period, up 12.4 percent from a year earlier and 16.5 percent higher compared with the first quarter, ITIS said.
Rising demand for smartphones is expected to further lift production value of the personal mobile communications device segment in the third quarter.
The segment’s output value should rise 20.9 percent from the second quarter and hit NT$136.1 billion, the institute forecast.
The overall communications equipment sector is expected to see 22.3 percent year-on-year growth and 16.8 percent sequential growth to NT$223.6 billion, ITIS said.
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