Contract notebook and electronics maker Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it expected to see more than double growth in revenue of consumer electronics this quarter, despite a decline of between 20 percent and 25 percent in revenue of communication products.
The forecast came as the company reported record-high reveneu for its design manufacturing services (DMS) NT$192 billion (US$6.62 billion) in the third quarter, up 2.1 percent from NT$188 billion in the previous quarter and a 23.08 increase compared to the same quarter of last year.
“The growth was driven mainly by better-than-expected demand for communication products as well as seasonal effects in consumer electronics products,” Pegatron chief financial officer Charles Lin (林秋炭) said.
Sales of communication products grew substantially by 22 percent month-on-month and 123 percent year-on-year due mainly to increasing demand and better utilization, he said.
Lin said revenue in the computing segment dropped by 10 percent quarter-on-quarter, which contributed to less than 50 percent of total DMS revenue for the first time ever, mainly due to weak demand ahead of the launch of Windows 8 and the end of production of low cost notebooks.
Sales of computing products accounted for 48 percent of Pegatron’s DMS revenue last quarter, followed by 38 percent in communication products, and 14 percent in consumer electronics.
During the July-to-September quarter, Pegatron reported a net profit of NT$1.35 billion, up 64.6 percent quarter-on-quarter and 269.7 percent year-on-year.
Earnings per share were NT$0.6 in the third quarter and NT$1.53 in the first three quarters, the company’s financial report showed.
Consolidated revenue increased to NT$223.04 billion last quarter, up 1.7 percent from NT$219.22 billion in the previous quarter and 21.9 percent from NT$182.93 in the same quarter of last year, with a flat gross margin of 4.9 percent and an operating margin of 1.3 percent, down from the previous quarter’s 1.4 percent.
Looking ahead, Pegatron chief executive Jason Cheng (程建中) said he forecast notebook, motherboard and desktop shipments might remain flat at single-digit growth this quarter.
“However, we expect to see shipments of consumer electronics, such as game consoles, tablet computers and LCD TVs, to grow from 5 million to 10 million in the fourth quarter, raising DMS revenue to hit the target of NT$20 billion and annual EPS [earnings per share] of NT$1,” Cheng said.
Last month, Pegatron posted NT$61.75 billion in consolidated revenue, down 9.55 percent month-on-month, but up 44.37 percent year-on-year, with its cumulative revenue in the first 10 months totaling NT$488.58 billion, up 65.69 percent from the year before.
One of Pegatron’s domestic rivals, Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), yesterday reported consolidated revenue of NT$60.19 billion for last month, with a month-on-month decrease of 6.7 percent and year-on-year growth of 1.2 percent.
Compal said accumulated revenue for this year was NT$558.66 billion, down 3.6 percent compared with NT$579.73 in the same period of last year.
“Compared to the third quarter, we forecast a 5 percent growth in notebook shipments this quarter. Shipments might grow or remain flat this quarter, depending on the market’s demand,” Compal spokesman Gary Lu (呂清雄) said.
Meanwhile, Inventec Corp (英業達) posted unconsolidated revenue of NT$28.6 billion last month, up 6.68 percent month-on-month, but down 12.20 percent year-on-year, with cumulative revenue in the first 10 months reaching NT$262.06 billion, down 7.59 percent from a year earlier.
“Because we shipped more high-end notebooks last month, our monthly revenue was better than expected,” Inventec chief financial officer Yu Chin-Pao (游進寶) said by telephone yesterday.
The company shipped a total of 1.4 million notebooks last month, and forecast a 5 percent growth in shipment this quarter and double-digit growth for next year’s shipments.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI