Acer Inc (宏碁) and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) are among global notebook computer vendors expected to perform weakly in the second half of this year, due to shortages and price hikes for numerous key components, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday.
“Notebook sales usually enter their peak period in the second half of the year, but recent issues regarding components will undercut vendors’ promotion capabilities,” TrendForce analyst Anna Wang (王靖怡) said in a report.
Wang said some South Korean panel manufactures’ announcements that they would scale back or suspend their production of high-definition twisted nematic LCD panels (HD TN panels) — used in the displays of mainstream notebook products — had led to a surge in the prices of HD TN panels recently.
In addition, prices for both DRAM and NAND flash have risen since the beginning of this quarter, which is likely to further burden notebook vendors going forward, Wang said.
The tightening supply of HD TN panels will have the most impact on Acer’s notebook shipments compared with other vendors, Wang said, as Acer’s notebooks featuring HD TN panels account for nearly 90 percent of its total shipments.
The company’s sales for last month fell 30.97 percent month-on-month, but increased 1.29 percent year-on-year to NT$17.09 billion (US$547.4 million), with combined sales for the first seven months dropping 10.67 percent year-on-year to NT$129.56 billion.
Overall, global notebook shipments are to grow by 12.75 percent to 83.64 million units in the second half from 74.18 million in the first half, TrendForce said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
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