Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), the world’s top contract laptop maker, yesterday reported that sales fell for a 15th consecutive month to NT$78.55 billion (US$2.66 billion) last month due to a decline in orders for laptops amid the rising importance of mobile devices in the PC market.
Sales last month reflected a 3.2 percent increase from NT$76.14 billion in September. However, on an annual basis, the figure represents a 22.4 percent decline from NT$101.23 billion a year ago, the company said.
Cumulative sales during the first 10 months of the year amounted to NT$687.42 billion, down 18.92 percent from NT$847.82 billion a year earlier.
SHIPMENTS
Total laptop shipments last month dropped 7.5 percent to about 3.7 million units from 4 million units in September, Quanta’s investor relations official Alai Chiu (邱珮倫) said by telephone.
During the January-to-October period, cumulative laptop shipments had reached 34.72 million units, she said.
“Quanta’s falling laptop shipments dragged down the company’s sales performance,” Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券) analyst Arthur Liao (廖顯毅) said.
As servers account for only a minor part of Quanta’s total product shipments, the company needs to accelerate its moves to become a major mobile device assembler amid the structural transformation of the PC market, Liao said.
Currently, laptops account for 63 percent of Quanta’s total shipments, followed by all-in-one computers at 13 percent and 9 percent for servers, according to Fubon’s research.
Tablet computers thus far have only accounted for about 7 percent and Apple Inc’s iPod music players made up the remaining 8 percent, Fubon said.
Looking ahead, Quanta forecast that it would ramp up production for tablets this month and next month to meet growing orders from clients because of strong demand ahead of the year-end holiday, Chiu said.
Quanta maintains its total laptop shipment target of 44 million units for this year, but Liao said the figure is likely to reach 41.1 million units at most.
LOSS OF ORDERS
Due to weakening demand for consumer laptops and loss of orders from Lenovo Group (聯想) and Dell Inc, Quanta’s laptop shipments could decline by between 8 percent and 10 percent next year to 38.5 million units, Liao added.
Separately, Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶), the world’s second-largest contract notebook maker, yesterday said that its sales last month had increased 1.35 percent month-on-month and 3.91 percent year-on-year to NT$62.77 billion.
The company’s cumulative sales during the first 10 months of the year increased 0.37 percent to NT$562.04 billion from NT$559.97 billion during the same period last year.
Wistron Corp (緯創), the world’s third-largest contract laptop maker, also reported that sales fell 22.16 percent month-on-month and 17.73 percent year-on-year to NT$45.6 billion last month, with the first 10 months sales declining 3.3 percent to NT$526.59 billion from a year ago.
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