Acer Inc yesterday revised downward its revenue growth to less than 40 percent, citing a weaker-than-expected impact from the release of Microsoft's Vista operating system.
"Our revenues will grow 30 percent to 40 percent compared to last year," company chairman Wang Jeng-tang (王振堂) told shareholders yesterday.
more time
He said that it would take more time before PC sales were stimulated by Vista, which was launched in January, because of software compatibility issues.
International Data Corp (IDC) vice president Bob O'Donnell said last month in Taipei that Vista had failed to live up to the hype that had excited the market, with a lukewarm reception especially from the commercial sector.
"The reality is that people are not buying PCs because of Vista; they buy because they need one," O'Donnell said.
remaining positive
Wang said he remained positive on prospects for the PC industry in the second half, but not as "over optimistic" as he had been earlier. Acer sales for the year would not grow by over 40 percent as he had previously projected, he said.
Acer's consolidated sales were up 16 percent from the previous year at NT$369.09 billion (US$11.15 billion) last year. Net income after tax surpassed the NT$10 billion mark for the first time at NT$10.22 billion.
The meeting yesterday approved the payment of a cash dividend of NT$3.85 and a 1.5 percent stock dividend for last year.
strengthen
Wang said that Acer will continue to drive to strengthen its presence in Europe, which is its largest market.
Hewlett-Packard Co's first-quarter notebook shipments to Europe reached 1.38 million units, a 53 percent growth year-on-year, and beat Acer's 1.23 million units to become the No. 1 brand in Europe, IDC said.
Wang said Acer is still growing in the region and will not let down its guard with regard to its competitors.
Acer shares rose 1.13 percent to end the day at NT$61.80 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
NXP Semiconductors NV expects its first automotive-grade 5-nanometer chip built by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to become available for automakers within one-and-a-half years at the earliest, following demand for better computing performance and energy efficiency for connected vehicles, a company executive said yesterday. That would mean a significant upgrade from the 16-nanometer technology NXP adopted in its existing series of microprocessors. NXP chief technology executive Lars Reger made the remarks during a media briefing yesterday in Taipei. The latest updates came after NXP unveiled its plan to source 5-nanometer capacity from TSMC in 2021. This is Reger’s first trip to
EVADING US CONTROLS? ‘These surveillance chips are relatively easy to manufacture compared to smartphone processors,’ a source said about HiSilicon’s components A Huawei Technologies Co (華為) unit is shipping new Chinese-made chips for surveillance cameras in a fresh sign that the Chinese tech giant is finding ways around four years of US export controls, two sources briefed on the unit’s efforts said. The shipments to surveillance camera manufacturers from the company’s chip design unit, HiSilicon Technologies Co (海思半導體), started this year, said one of the sources and a third source familiar with the industry supply chain. One of the sources briefed on the unit said that at least some of the customers were Chinese. Huawei unveiled new smartphones in the past few weeks that
CENTRAL BANK: The consumer price index would grow while core CPI is set to move forward at a milder rate, the governor said, adding that the GDP forecast is down The central bank yesterday kept its policy rate unchanged for the second straight quarter, saying that a rate pause would help support the economy, as consumer prices have moderated and would return to the 2 percent target next year. “The board gave unanimous support to a policy hold, although some members voiced concern over lingering inflationary pressures and called for close monitoring,” central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a media briefing after its quarterly board meeting. The consumer price index (CPI) would grow 1.83 percent next year, while core CPI after stripping out volatile items would advance a milder 1.73 percent,
SLUMP: The electronics, machinery and traditional industries posted the largest decline in the past year; overall, sectors showed gains over the previous month Taiwan’s industrial production index decreased 10.53 percent year-on-year to 91.38 last month, falling for a 15th consecutive month on an annual basis, as weak global economic growth continued to weigh on end-market demand and investment momentum, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Saturday. The industrial production index gauges output in Taiwan’s four main industries: manufacturing, electricity and gas supply, water supply, and mining and quarrying. Last month’s decline was the smallest contraction since March when the index dropped 16.03 percent from a year earlier. On a monthly basis, the index rose 7.28 percent, marking a second straight month of improvement,
RSS