The end of support for the long-lived Windows XP is expected to boost local PC part suppliers as users move to replace their older computers, market analysts said yesterday.
The wave has benefited the global PC industry by slowing the pace of declining shipments and offsetting the effect of weak demand, in turn raising local PC parts suppliers’ sales for the first quarter.
Revenue growth at local parts makers is expected to continue into the second quarter as more consumers buy new PCs, analysts said.
Gartner Inc said the smaller annual decline of 1.7 percent in global PC shipments in the first quarter to 76.6 million units was because the end of Microsoft’s technical support for Windows XP drove customers to buy new devices amid fears about security risks.
Gartner said replacements in the global market could continue throughout the year, but Yuanta Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) took a more upbeat outlook, saying the replacement wave will continue into the first half of next year.
Power management system supplier Delta Electronics Inc (台達電子) is one of the beneficiaries, analysts said, alongside connector makers Lotes Co (嘉澤端子) and Longwell Co (良維科技), as well as LCD monitor firm Syncmold Enterprise Group (信錦企業), they said.
In the first quarter, Delta Electronics’ consolidated sales increased 11 percent to NT$43 billion (US$1.43 billion) from a year earlier, while Lotes and Longwell Co reported annual sales increases of 12.89 percent and 19.14 percent respectively in the first quarter.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last