Simplo Technology Co (新普科技), the world’s largest maker of laptop batteries, said a global shortage of power cells will last three months longer than anticipated as producers fail to boost output fast enough.
Supply may catch up with demand in the second quarter of next year, chief financial officer Jackie Ding (丁惠敏) said in an interview at Simplo’s Hsinchu headquarters on Tuesday.
A month ago, the company had expected the shortage to end by the first quarter of next year, she said.
Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), the world’s second-largest maker of laptops, has blamed the shortfall of batteries for crimping notebook-computer sales.
Simplo, which assembles cells into battery packs for Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc, fell 15 percent in the two weeks to Aug. 21 in Taipei trading on concern oversupply would erode earnings, Deutsche Bank AG said.
“Batteries are key for overall notebook shipments,” said Tina Chang, who rates Simplo “buy” at Merrill Lynch & Co in Taipei. “In the first half of this year notebook constraints could be seen because of the battery shortage.”
Ding said on Aug. 26 that supply fell short of demand by 10 percent in the second quarter. Compal said on March 5 the battery shortage would hamper shipments during the first half of the year.
Fires at Seoul-based LG Chem Ltd in March and a Matsushita Electric Industrial Co factory last October prompted competitors such as Sanyo Electric Co to boost production to meet demand.
Plans by Sanyo and Matsushita to boost investment in battery cell production won’t raise supply until next year or 2010, Ding said. Matsushita, which sells its products under the Panasonic brand, will spend ¥100 billion (US$927 million) to triple laptop battery capacity, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported on July 17.
“All those cell players, what they do is control the market,” Ding said. “If it’s in an oversupply status, then the oversupply will hurt them, while for us it will be an advantage.”
Ding reiterated the company’s Aug. 26 forecast that sales this quarter would rise 38 percent from the second quarter to as much as NT$8.4 billion (US$266 million).
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
RSS