Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC brand, yesterday said it expected revenues to drop 5 to 10 percent in the fourth quarter from the third quarter, in wake of flooding in Thailand, which has impacted production of hard disk drives.
The company joined its bigger domestic rival, Acer Inc (宏碁), which last week also predicted a revenue drop within a similar range for the fourth quarter, given the severe floods that have wreaked havoc in Thailand — which produces nearly half of the world’s hard drives.
“If we take out the flooding factor, fourth-quarter revenue may remain flat from the third,” Asustek chief executive Jerry Shen (沈振來) told investors.
To maintain profitability, the company will join Acer in raising average sales prices and downgrade hardware of selected notebooks starting in the fourth quarter to reflect the price hike of hard drives, he said.
The company expected an average of a 3 to 6 percent price increase for notebooks industry-wise because of the hard drive shortage.
Asustek posted revenues of NT$102.04 billion (US$3.4 billion) in the third quarter, up 24 percent year-on-year and a 42 percent quarter-on-quarter jump.
The figure was a record after the company split its manufacturing arm from its brand-name business in July last year. The rise was attributed to strong growth in shipments in Eastern Europe and the Asia-Pacific, especially China, it said.
Earnings were NT$4.68 billion, or NT$6.22 per share, up 11 percent from last year and a rise of 30 percent from the second quarter.
The company aims to ship 4.1 million notebooks, 1.2 million netbooks, 600,000 tablets and 6 million motherboards in the fourth quarter.
It shipped 4.3 million notebooks, 1.3 million netbooks, 800,000 tablets and 6.3 million motherboards for the third quarter.
The company expects emerging markets, which currently contributes 62 percent to total sales compared with 38 percent for mature markets, to drive growth next year.
The emerging markets include China, Brazil and India.
New products that will drive growth include the Padfone — a smartphone-tablet combo — to be unveiled in February next year and a second model of its popular tablet, the Transformer, this month.
Despite Asustek’s efforts to boost its PC presence, Cheng Kai-ming (鄭開明), an analyst with Horizon Securities (宏遠證券), does not expect Asustek to see any changes in its PC ranking next year.
“The competition is tough as the top four vendors are very strong. Unless Acer continues to lose market share, Asustek’s ranking next year will be little changed even if one or two models of its products manage to stand out,” Cheng said.
Shares of Asustek yesterday closed down 3 percent to NT$210.5 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange before the investors’ conference.
Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday introduced the company’s latest supercomputer platform, featuring six new chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), saying that it is now “in full production.” “If Vera Rubin is going to be in time for this year, it must be in production by now, and so, today I can tell you that Vera Rubin is in full production,” Huang said during his keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas. The rollout of six concurrent chips for Vera Rubin — the company’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform — marks a strategic
REVENUE PERFORMANCE: Cloud and network products, and electronic components saw strong increases, while smart consumer electronics and computing products fell Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted 26.51 percent quarterly growth in revenue for last quarter to NT$2.6 trillion (US$82.44 billion), the strongest on record for the period and above expectations, but the company forecast a slight revenue dip this quarter due to seasonal factors. On an annual basis, revenue last quarter grew 22.07 percent, the company said. Analysts on average estimated about NT$2.4 trillion increase. Hon Hai, which assembles servers for Nvidia Corp and iPhones for Apple Inc, is expanding its capacity in the US, adding artificial intelligence (AI) server production in Wisconsin and Texas, where it operates established campuses. This
US President Donald Trump on Friday blocked US photonics firm HieFo Corp’s US$3 million acquisition of assets in New Jersey-based aerospace and defense specialist Emcore Corp, citing national security and China-related concerns. In an order released by the White House, Trump said HieFo was “controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China” and that its 2024 acquisition of Emcore’s businesses led the US president to believe that it might “take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” The order did not name the person or detail Trump’s concerns. “The Transaction is hereby prohibited,”
Garment maker Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽) yesterday reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue of NT$7.93 billion (US$251.44 million), down 9.48 percent from NT$8.76 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, revenue fell 10.83 percent from NT$8.89 billion, company data showed. The figure was also lower than market expectations of NT$8.05 billion, according to data compiled by Yuanta Securities Investment and Consulting Co (元大投顧), which had projected NT$8.22 billion. Makalot’s revenue this quarter would likely increase by a mid-teens percentage as the industry is entering its high season, Yuanta said. Overall, Makalot’s revenue last year totaled NT$34.43 billion, down 3.08 percent from its record NT$35.52
RSS