Local liquid-crystal-display (LCD) monitor exports are expected to grow by 4.3 percent quarter-on-quarter for the second quarter in a row thanks to depletion of old inventory and a rebound in global demand, a Taipei-based research institute said.
The Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC, 產業情報研究所) in a report attributed the increased demand to rising shipments to China, which was spurred on by the Chinese government’s subsidy program to promote the use of consumer electronics in rural areas.
The MIC said 21 percent of all LCD monitor exports went to China in the fourth quarter of last year.
This year, as developed countries slowly recover from the global economic recession, exports to mature markets are expected to continue their descent, while exports to emerging markets such as China, Latin America and Eastern Europe are projected to grow, MIC analyst Yuki Kao (高興玉) wrote in the report.
Despite the optimistic outlook for second-quarter growth, the research house said shipments in terms of volume and value would continue to decline in the first quarter even with a wave of recent rush orders.
Local LCD monitor makers suffered year-on-year declines of 7.2 percent and quarter-on-quarter declines of 7.4 percent in fourth-quarter shipments, dropping to 26.1 million units. In dollar terms, local companies exported US$3.52 billion worth of LCD monitors for the quarter, down 10.9 percent from the previous quarter and falling 26.7 percent from a year ago, MIC tallies showed.
The MIC attributed the declining shipments in the first quarter to fallout from the global financial crisis, but more noteworthy was the massive entrance of low-priced notebooks, or netbooks, and all-in-one PCs into the market, which ravaged demand for regular desktop add-ons.
“Growth momentum in regional markets weakened, and emerging markets were also unable to escape the effects of the crisis. Meanwhile, LCD monitor brands and distributors cleared inventories and reduced the number of orders given to contract manufacturers,” Kao said.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
RSS