Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s largest contract electronics maker, on Friday last week posted NT$277.82 billion (US$9.48 billion) in sales for last month, down 30.65 percent from a month earlier, with shipments affected by the Lunar New Year holiday.
On a yearly basis, the figure fell 4.06 percent, Hon Hai said.
Its computing device division fared better than its communications device and consumer electronics divisions last month, it said.
In the first two months, combined sales totaled NT$678.42 billion, up 6.85 percent from a year earlier, the highest for the two-month period in the company’s history.
While the pace of orders from Apple Inc for the iPhone X is likely to slow in the first quarter, Hon Hai might still secure steady orders for the iPhone 8 Plus, analysts said.
Analysts forecast that Hon Hai would report double-digit percentage growth in first-quarter sales from a year earlier on the back of solid shipments in its computing and communications divisions.
Pegatron Corp (和碩), another iPhone assembler, said that sales last month rose 2.13 percent year-on-year to NT$76.83 billion, helping lift its sales in the first two months 20.29 percent from the same period last year to NT$197.897 billion, a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing showed.
Pegatron also manufactures computer-related products on a contract basis.
The company said it shipped 500,000 to 550,000 notebook computers last month, down from 750,000 to 800,000 units in January, and a combined 600,000 to 650,000 desktop computers and motherboards, compared with 700,000 to 750,000 units the previous month.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which assembles Apple’s MacBooks and the Apple Watch, posted sales of NT$64.29 billion last month, down 13.3 percent annually, with a 3.3 percent annual drop in combined sales to NT$149.08 billion in the first two months due to a lack of demand for notebooks.
The company said its notebook shipments dropped 14.28 percent to 2.4 million units last month from January.
Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶), the world’s second-largest contract notebook maker, reported that its sales last month increased 1.6 percent to NT$57.94 billion from a year ago, bringing its cumulative sales during the first two months to NT$117.74 billion, up 8.7 percent from the same period last year.
Notebook shipments increased 22.72 percent to 2.7 million units last month from January, Compal said.
As for PC brands, Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) on Friday reported NT$63.17 billion in sales for the first two months, down 10.6 percent from a year ago, while Acer Inc’s (宏碁) sales decreased 4.67 percent annually to NT$32.13 billion.
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