Global notebook computer shipments in the second quarter of this year are expected to grow dramatically following better-than-expected figures in the January to March period, a Taipei-based analyst firm said yesterday.
Digitimes Research forecast worldwide notebook shipments of 55 million units in the second quarter, a 17.6 percent quarterly increase and a 9.5 percent rise year-on-year.
“This points to a full recovery of the industry in 2012,” Digitimes senior analyst Joanne Chien (簡佩萍) said.
She predicted that global notebook shipments for the whole year would reach 236 million units, up 17 percent from last year, with the introduction of more low to medium-priced models and the release of Microsoft Corp’s Windows 8 operating system.
In terms of brand breakdown, Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) and Apple Inc are both expected to post 30 percent growth, with the former very likely to replace Dell Inc as the world’s fourth-largest notebook brand, she said.
However, Samsung Electronics Co and Toshiba Corp, which also did well in the first three months, might have a hard time in the second quarter, Chien said.
The South Korean and Japanese companies will not be able to maintain their momentum because they are struggling to keep up with the average growth rate of the industry, she said.
Global shipments of Ultrabooks are forecast at 1.5 million units in the second quarter, about the same as the expected strong showing by Apple’s MacBook Air. However, Ultrabooks will continue to trail in the notebook market, accounting for only 2.7 percent of the total, Chien forecast.
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
Taiwan’s exports soared 56 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$64.05 billion last month, propelled by surging global demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) called the figure an unexpected upside surprise, citing a wave of technology orders from overseas customers alongside the usual year-end shopping season for technology products. Growth is likely to remain strong this month, she said, projecting a 40 percent to 45 percent expansion on an annual basis. The outperformance could prompt the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
NATIONAL SECURITY: Intel’s testing of ACM tools despite US government control ‘highlights egregious gaps in US technology protection policies,’ a former official said Chipmaker Intel Corp has tested chipmaking tools this year from a toolmaker with deep roots in China and two overseas units that were targeted by US sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Intel, which fended off calls for its CEO’s resignation from US President Donald Trump in August over his alleged ties to China, got the tools from ACM Research Inc, a Fremont, California-based producer of chipmaking equipment. Two of ACM’s units, based in Shanghai and South Korea, were among a number of firms barred last year from receiving US technology over claims they have
BARRIERS: Gudeng’s chairman said it was unlikely that the US could replicate Taiwan’s science parks in Arizona, given its strict immigration policies and cultural differences Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登), which supplies wafer pods to the world’s major semiconductor firms, yesterday said it is in no rush to set up production in the US due to high costs. The company supplies its customers through a warehouse in Arizona jointly operated by TSS Holdings Ltd (德鑫控股), a joint holding of Gudeng and 17 Taiwanese firms in the semiconductor supply chain, including specialty plastic compounds producer Nytex Composites Co (耐特) and automated material handling system supplier Symtek Automation Asia Co (迅得). While the company has long been exploring the feasibility of setting up production in the US to address
RSS