Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) yesterday forecast that its notebook computer shipments would drop by more than 6 percent annually this year, deeper than the industry’s consensus estimate of a 5 to 6 percent decline in global notebook shipments.
“We are more conservative about the outlook for the industry this year, as order visibility is really unclear. This year is likely to be another challenging one for notebooks,” a Quanta investor relations official said by telephone.
The contract notebook maker shipped 4.6 million units in the first two months, down more than 20 percent from 5.9 million units it shipped in the same period last year.
“It was very difficult for us during the first two months,” she said.
The official said that the company would fare much better in the second quarter, but declined to offer the company’s shipment guidance for the second quarter, due to limited order visibility.
That Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) is reducing its notebook orders to Taiwanese contract suppliers is also likely to weigh on Quanta’s notebook business this year, another Quanta official said.
“Our internal forecast is that notebook shipments will drop more than 6 percent this year from last year’s 433 million units,” said the second official, who asked to remain anonymous.
Quanta said it is more optimistic over its cloud-related business, which accounted for 30 percent of the firm’s annual revenue of NT$1 trillion (US$30.98 billion) last year, due to steady commercial clients and clear order visibility. Cloud-related business includes servers, storage, switches, wearable devices, tablets and Internet-of-Things devices.
“We are upbeat that the revenue from the server business will jump by 20 percent annually this year. The visibility is clearer and more certain compared with the notebook business,” the second official said.
Quanta yesterday reported net profit of NT$17.82 billion, or NT$4.6 per share, for last year, down 5.6 percent from a year earlier, mainly due to lower foreign-exchange gains and weak notebook demand.
Foreign-exchange gains and interest income totaled NT$4.7 billion last year, falling significantly by 58.77 percent from NT$11.4 billion a year earlier, the company said.
The company said it would distribute a cash dividend of NT$3.8 per share to shareholders, representing an 82 percent payout ratio, which is the same payout ratio as a year earlier.
The planned distribution suggests a yield of 6.76 percent, based on the company’s closing price of NT$56.2 in Taipei trading yesterday.
On Wednesday, local rival Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) reported an annual increase of 23.47 percent in net income to NT$8.68 billion, or NT$2.01 per share, for last year, largely because of a lower base in 2014.
Compal said its business would pick up quarterly throughout the year, driven by its non-notebook operations, following the annual trough period of the first quarter.
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