Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), the world’s largest contract laptop maker, yesterday reported sales reached a 23.25 percent quarterly growth last quarter, beating a consensus estimate of a 4.63 percent increase.
“Due to increased orders from some clients, shipments of laptops amounted to 12.1 million units last quarter, which was 10 percent higher than 11 million units in the previous quarter, better than the company’s guidance of a single-digit quarter-on-quarter growth,” Quanta investor relations official Carol Hsu (許昭瑾) said by telephone.
During the October-to-December period of last year, Quanta generated sales of NT$271.54 billion (US$9.04 billion), beating analysts’ consensus of NT$230.5 billion and exceeding the NT$220.31 billion of the previous quarter.
On an annual basis, last quarter’s figure rose 5.19 percent from NT$260.79 billion.
However, weakening demand for notebook computers throughout all of last year pushed Quanta’s full-year sales to decline 14.1 percent to NT$880.41 billion from 2012, the company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
That was the second straight year the company posted a sales decline since 2011, when the company made record sales of NT$1.08 trillion.
For the whole of last year, notebook shipments fell 19.88 percent to 43.1 million units from 53.8 million units in 2012, Quanta said.
“We expect notebook shipments for this year to increase slightly from last year because new orders gained from many PC vendors,” Hsu said.
Yuanta Securities Co (元大證券) analyst Vincent Chen (陳豊丰) said yesterday that global notebook shipments had probably bottomed out in the third quarter of last year.
“Based on contract PC makers’ fourth-quarter sales performance, notebook demand seemed better than expected,” Chen said by telephone. “The uptrend may continue this year, driven by replacement demand after Microsoft Corp is set to end its service support to Windows XP computers.”
Separately, Pegatron Corp (和碩), the world’s fifth-largest contract laptop maker, yesterday reported that its sales last quarter totaled NT$268.82 billion, up 5.84 percent from NT$253.97 billion in the previous quarter and 26.9 percent from NT$211.83 billion a year ago.
Due to increased shipments of non-notebook products, including Apple Inc’s iPad Mini and iPhone 5C, Pegatron’s sales last year achieved a 7.87 percent growth to NT$950.54 billion, the company said.
“Pegatron was able to achieve consecutive annual sales growth last year because the company’s product portfolio is constantly adjusted in accordance with market trends,” said Tsai Ming-chun (蔡明純), deputy director of Pegatron’s finance and accounting department.
“We expect sales to stay solid this year if demand for consumer electronics and communication products can remain robust in the global market,” she added.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”