A recent decision by Japan’s Toshiba Corp to exit certain consumer laptop markets is likely to benefit Taiwan’s Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) because of their similar product positions, brokerage Morgan Stanley said on Sunday.
Following Sony’s disposal of its Vaio PC business and Samsung’s scaling down of its notebook business, Toshiba announced on Thursday that it would accelerate the restructuring of its PC business and withdraw from certain consumer markets.
The Japanese electronics conglomerate said it would also cut 900 jobs during the current fiscal year, which was expected to save the company more than ¥20 billion (US$184 million) in fixed costs compared with the previous year.
“We see Asustek as the major beneficiary if Toshiba withdraws from some consumer markets [because] both have consumer products in similar price ranges,” Grace Chen (陳星嘉), a Morgan Stanley analyst in Taipei, said in a note to clients.
In comparison, Lenovo Group (聯想) and Acer Inc (宏碁) are targeting the lower-end consumer notebook segment, she said.
Citing data from research firm IDC, Chen said Toshiba’s PC business covers mainly notebooks, which declined by an annual 15 percent last year to 14 million units, holding an 8 percent share of the global market.
Asustek, meanwhile, shipped 19 million notebooks last year, she added.
“Asustek’s third-quarter notebook shipments are tracking slightly ahead of our forecast and we expect its fourth-quarter shipments to outperform its peers, as it will launch new products,” Chen said.
Acer founder Stan Shih (施振榮) yesterday said at a press briefing that Toshiba’s restructuring plan is a “normal” phenomenon in the PC industry that allows PC companies to reflect on their decisions and learn more about the industry’s dynamics.
The PC industry needs to change its role after more than 30 years in existence and it also needs new strategies to deal with the shrinking market, Shih said on the sidelines of a awards ceremony for an Acer comic competition, a promotional event for its cloud services.
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