Asustek expects 27% sales rise to US$2.6bn in 2001

Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), which makes one out of every eight computer motherboards sold in the world, said sales this year should increase by more than a quarter as orders have increased in recent months.

Revenue at the Taipei-based company, which also makes notebook computers, is expected to rise 27 percent to NT$90 billion (US$2.6 billion) as Asustek expects to ship 18 million boards this year, compared with 14 million last year, said Jonathan Tsang, vice president for sales. The company also plans to sell up to 800,000 notebook PCs this year, he said.

"Sales in the first half were about 13.5 percent higher," Tsang said. "This number is a little lower than our forecast. However, our sales in June and July have increased compared with the past few months." Asustek set an "internal sales target" of US$3.4 billion for this year, although the company made a lower forecast for sales to the TAIEX, so as to not inflate expectations.