Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday said it expects its notebook computer shipments to grow mildly this quarter from last quarter, and predicted better smartphone business in the second half of this year.
The PC maker made the comments after releasing its second-quarter financial results, which beat analysts’ forecasts, at a time when the company is working to improve its profit margins against market headwinds.
“This quarter’s notebook shipments will grow from last quarter, mainly due to the lower shipment base in the last quarter, but not because of market demand,” Asustek CEO Jerry Shen (沈振來) told a media briefing after an investors’ conference in Taipei.
Shen said the launch of Microsoft Corp’s Windows 10 is not expected to benefit PC vendors’ shipment performance for the time being, as the US company is offering a free upgrade to current users.
In addition, Intel Corp’s new processor architecture, Skylake, will not be available until next month, which will drag on consumer notebook sales, he said.
“We are carefully controlling our notebook shipments at the moment, as many of the models are running on older processors,” Shen said, adding that he expects Asustek and other PC makers to face a severe shortage of Skylake processors next month.
Noting that last quarter was Asustek’s trough of the year in the PC segment, Shen said the company expects notebook computer shipments this quarter to grow 12 percent to 4.8 million units from 4.3 million units last quarter.
Last quarter’s notebook shipments were lower than Asustek’s original forecast of 4.5 million units, causing the company to lower its annual notebook shipment target last month from a previous estimate of 22.8 million units to 20 million units this year.
However, Asustek’s 5 million smartphone shipments last quarter beat its forecast of 4.8 million units, Shen said, adding that the company expects shipments to increase by 20 percent to 6 million this quarter.
“We remain optimistic about Asustek’s smartphone business,” Shen said, citing growing demand in emerging markets such as India, Indonesia and China.
In addition, Asustek is working with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) to manufacture handsets in India and Brazil, Shen said.
“We will start to ship handsets from India at the end of this month,” he said, adding that Hon Hai began to manufacture Asustek’s ZenFone in Brazil at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Asustek’s net profit declined 3 percent to NT$4.65 billion (US$144.95 million), or NT$6.27 per share, a 27 percent rise from NT$3.68 billion in the first quarter.
Last quarter’s earnings beat HSBC Securities Taiwan Corp’s estimate of NT$4.23 billion by 9.92 percent.
Asustek shares dropped by 1.76 percent to NT$250.5 in Taipei trading yesterday, underperforming the TAIEX, which lost 0.86 percent.
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Taiwan has enough crude oil reserves for more than 100 days and sufficient natural gas reserves for more than 11 days, both above the regulatory safety requirement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, adding that the government would prioritize domestic price stability as conflicts in the Middle East continue. Overall, energy supply for this month is secure, and the government is continuing efforts to ensure sufficient supply for next month, Kung told reporters after meeting with representatives from business groups at the ministry in Taipei. The ministry has been holding daily cross-ministry meetings at the Executive Yuan to ensure
RATIONING: The proposal would give the Trump administration ample leverage to negotiate investments in the US as it decides how many chips to give each country US officials are debating a new regulatory framework for exporting artificial intelligence (AI) chips and are considering requiring foreign nations to invest in US AI data centers or security guarantees as a condition for granting exports of 200,000 chips or more, according to a document seen by Reuters. The rules are not yet final and could change. They would be the first attempt to regulate the flow of AI chips to US allies and partners since US President Donald Trump’s administration said it rescinded its predecessor’s so-called AI diffusion rules. Those rules sought to keep a significant amount of AI
RSS