Shipments of notebook computers in the second quarter will rise less than forecast because of slower demand and a shortage of key parts, Goldman Sachs Group Inc said yesterday.
Combined shipments of the five-biggest notebook makers will climb 5.5 percent this quarter from the previous three-month period, less than an earlier estimate of 7.6 percent, Taipei-based analysts Henry King (金文衡) and Matthew Chuang wrote in a report.
Shipments will climb 20 percent among the same companies in the third quarter, they wrote.
“A demand slowdown since early May has led major OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] to call off their NBs [notebooks] from manufacturers’ factories, even though OEMs have not officially lowered their order forecasts,” they wrote.
Intel Corp’s delay of the Montevina chip could push back some laptop shipments planned for next month and July to August and September, the report said.
Intel said on Tuesday it would delay the debut of the latest version of its Centrino laptop processor because of technical problems.
“Our supply chain checks indicate that HP, Acer and Asustek have been more aggressive in their Montevina time-to-market assumptions than other OEMs,” King and Chuang wrote.
The world’s top five laptop makers are Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電惱), Wistron Corp (緯創), Inventec Co (英業達) and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), all based in Taiwan, Goldman Sachs said.
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