Inventec Corp (英業達) reported that revenue last month increased 6.24 percent year-on-year to NT$47.71 billion (US$1.53 billion) from NT$44.91 billion a year earlier, thanks to rush orders before the G20 summit in Japan, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday on condition of anonymity.
“Some clients were worried that new US tariffs would take effect after the G20 [summit],” she said, referring to US President Donald Trump’s earlier threat of imposing a 25 percent surtax on US$300 billion of Chinese goods, including mobile phones and laptops.
“We shipped up to 1.9 million laptops last month,” the official said, adding that shipments would likely slow this quarter, as Trump agreed to halt the implementation of new tariffs.
As Intel Corp is making up for a shortage of central processing units, which plagued the PC industry in the first half of this year, Inventec said that it expects shipments to improve by next month.
“Shipments of servers for our enterprise clients will remain the same as last quarter,” she said.
The company expects single-digit percentage sales growth for smart devices in the second half of this year, she added.
Inventec is an original design manufacturer for various electronics and computers. It also serves as a key assembler of Apple Inc’s AirPods.
Last month, Inventec’s board of directors approved a plan to invest US$54.81 million by acquiring a 10 percent stake in US-based ZT Group International Inc, which provides hyperscale computer and storage solutions.
Company data showed that cumulative revenue from January to last month reached NT$242.67 billion, up 4.73 percent from NT$231.71 billion for the same period last year.
Separately, Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) reported that revenue last month fell 9.6 percent to NT$30.8 billion from NT$34.07 billion a year earlier, bringing overall second-quarter revenue to NT$74.2 billion, an annual decline of 8.8 percent.
The company attributed the lackluster performance to weakening demand in developing markets, brought on by the ongoing trade dispute between the US and China.
However, the company retains a positive outlook for the long term and plans to adjust its product portfolio in an effort to adapt to market changes, Asustek said in a statement.
Cumulative revenue in the first six months dropped 7.95 percent annually to NT$160.1 billion.
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