Xiaomi Corp (小米) is likely to ship only 300,000 notebook computers this year, lower than market estimates of 1 million units, according to the Chinese company’s supply chain sources.
The lower shipment estimates for this year comes after the Chinese company postponed the launch date of its laptops by several quarters, sources said.
Inventec Corp (英業達), Xiaomi’s long-term assembly partner, in September last year said it would help the company make its first-ever notebook product in the first quarter of this year.
The Chinese company later picked Wistron Corp (緯創) over Compal Electronics Co (仁寶) to be the second assembler for its notebooks, people who are familiar with the matter told the Taipei Times.
Both Inventec and Wistron are expected to start shipping Xiaomi notebooks from this quarter — 150,000 units of the 12-inch notebooks from Inventec and 150,000 units of the 13-inch model from Wistron, sources said.
The Chinese company is scheduled to hold a product launch on Wednesday next week in Beijing, which is widely anticipated to introduce its new Redmi smartphone and two notebooks.
Inventec yesterday confirmed that it would start to ship Xiaomi’s 12-inch notebook from the end of this month, but refused to say if projected total shipments would be 150,000 units.
“I can only say the initial shipments for the products are not massive,” an Inventec official said by telephone.
Wistron declined to comment on its clients.
Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) said it is possible that Xiaomi’s notebook shipments would only reach 300,000 units this year due to time constraint for its suppliers.
In addition, the Chinese company might post its first annual decline in smartphone shipments this year, because of “very” weak demand in the first quarter, Yuanta analyst Jeff Pu (蒲得宇) said by telephone.
Pu said that Chinese smartphone demand was bleak in the first quarter, but improved significantly in the second quarter, with the strength extending into this quarter.
However, the recovery would not be enough to offset the weakness in the first quarter, he said.
“We forecast that Xiaomi’s smartphone shipments would drop more than 17 percent to 58 million units this year from last year’s 70 million, which would impact Xiaomi’s smartphone assemblers,” Pu said.
However, Inventec said Xiaomi has not lowered its order forecast for smartphones for this year.
“Inventec still expects to ship between 40 million and 45 million handsets this year, including smartphones for Xiaomi,” a company official said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) secured a record 70.2 percent share of the global foundry business in the second quarter, up from 67.6 percent the previous quarter, and continued widening its lead over second-placed Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Monday. TSMC posted US$30.24 billion in sales in the April-to-June period, up 18.5 percent from the previous quarter, driven by major smartphone customers entering their ramp-up cycle and robust demand for artificial intelligence chips, laptops and PCs, which boosted wafer shipments and average selling prices, TrendForce said in a report. Samsung’s sales also grew in the second quarter, up
LIMITED IMPACT: Investor confidence was likely sustained by its relatively small exposure to the Chinese market, as only less advanced chips are made in Nanjing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) saw its stock price close steady yesterday in a sign that the loss of the validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing, China, fab should have a mild impact on the world’s biggest contract chipmaker financially and technologically. Media reports about the waiver loss sent TSMC down 1.29 percent during the early trading session yesterday, but the stock soon regained strength and ended at NT$1,160, unchanged from Tuesday. Investors’ confidence in TSMC was likely built on its relatively small exposure to the Chinese market, as Chinese customers contributed about 9 percent to TSMC’s revenue last
LOOPHOLES: The move is to end a break that was aiding foreign producers without any similar benefit for US manufacturers, the US Department of Commerce said US President Donald Trump’s administration would make it harder for Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc to ship critical equipment to their chipmaking operations in China, dealing a potential blow to the companies’ production in the world’s largest semiconductor market. The US Department of Commerce in a notice published on Friday said that it was revoking waivers for Samsung and SK Hynix to use US technologies in their Chinese operations. The companies had been operating in China under regulations that allow them to import chipmaking equipment without applying for a new license each time. The move would revise what is known
UNCERTAINTY: A final ruling against the president’s tariffs would upend his trade deals and force the government to content with billions of dollars in refunds The legal fight over US President Donald Trump’s global tariffs is deepening after a federal appeals court ruled the levies were issued illegally under an emergency law, extending the chaos in global trade. A 7-4 decision by a panel of judges on Friday was a major setback for Trump, even as it gives both sides something to boast about. The majority upheld a May ruling by the Court of International Trade that the tariffs were illegal. However, the judges left the levies intact while the case proceeds, as Trump had requested, and suggested that any injunction could potentially be narrowed to apply
RSS