Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s fifth-largest PC brand, could miss its target of shipping 12 million tablet devices this year because of a “sudden drop in tablet industry demand” worldwide, UBS Securities Pte Ltd said yesterday.
“We believe Asustek will have to revise down its full-year shipment target,” Arthur Hsieh (謝宗文), chief electronics hardware analyst at UBS’ Taipei branch, said in a client note.
Hsieh said the brokerage had cut its tablet shipment forecast for Asustek by 24 percent for this year, meaning the company might only ship about 9.1 million tablets this year.
In the second quarter, Asustek shipped 2.3 million tablets, up 13.1 percent year-on-year, with a 4.6 percent share of the global market, the International Data Corp (IDC) said in a report on July 24.
Global tablet shipments grew 11 percent annually in the second quarter to 49.3 million units, but declined 1.5 percent from the first quarter because of the rise in popularity among consumers of large-screen smartphones, and longer-than-anticipated ownership cycles, IDC said.
UBS also expects Asustek to register a mild recovery in notebook computer shipment in the current quarter and lead its peers in launching a new 2-in-1 hybrid notebook model later this quarter or early next quarter.
Hsieh said the new Transformer Book T300 Chi using the Intel Core M processor could help drive the company’s overall notebook sales momentum next quarter, but UBS still cut its notebook computer shipment forecast for Asustek to 21 million units from 22 million units, the note said.
Leading Taiwanese bicycle brands Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) and Merida Industry Co (美利達工業) on Sunday said that they have adopted measures to mitigate the impact of the tariff policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration. The US announced at the beginning of this month that it would impose a 20 percent tariff on imported goods made in Taiwan, effective on Thursday last week. The tariff would be added to other pre-existing most-favored-nation duties and industry-specific trade remedy levy, which would bring the overall tariff on Taiwan-made bicycles to between 25.5 percent and 31 percent. However, Giant did not seem too perturbed by the
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
TARIFF CONCERNS: Semiconductor suppliers are tempering expectations for the traditionally strong third quarter, citing US tariff uncertainty and a stronger NT dollar Several Taiwanese semiconductor suppliers are taking a cautious view of the third quarter — typically a peak season for the industry — citing uncertainty over US tariffs and the stronger New Taiwan dollar. Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科技) said that customers accelerated orders in the first half of the year to avoid potential tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump’s administration. As a result, it anticipates weaker-than-usual peak-season demand in the third quarter. The US tariff plan, announced on April 2, initially proposed a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese goods. Its implementation was postponed by 90 days to July 9, then
AI SERVER DEMAND: ‘Overall industry demand continues to outpace supply and we are expanding capacity to meet it,’ the company’s chief executive officer said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported that net profit last quarter rose 27 percent from the same quarter last year on the back of demand for cloud services and high-performance computing products. Net profit surged to NT$44.36 billion (US$1.48 billion) from NT$35.04 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, net profit grew 5 percent from NT$42.1 billion. Earnings per share expanded to NT$3.19 from NT$2.53 a year earlier and NT$3.03 in the first quarter. However, a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar since early May has weighed on the company’s performance, Hon Hai chief financial officer David Huang (黃德才)
RSS