Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), the world’s second-largest contract notebook maker, yesterday said notebook shipments grew at a faster-than-expected rate of nearly 25 percent in the second quarter after shipments hit record highs again last month amid accelerating PC demand.
Last month alone, Quanta’s notebook shipments reached 4.8 million units, up 10 percent from 4.4 million in May, surpassing its all-time high of 4.5 million units set in April.
During the April to June period, Quanta said it shipped a total of 13.7 million laptops, up 24.6 percent from 11 million units in the first quarter, surpassing the company’s forecast of a 15 to 20 percent sequential expansion.
With shipments in the first half reaching 24.7 million units, the company appears on track to meeting its full-year shipment target of 50 million units, up 40 percent from a year ago.
In terms of value, Quanta also posted historical high sales of NT$100.22 billion (US$3.1 billion) last month. Sales in the second quarter reached NT$289.74 billion, up 15 percent quarter-on-quarter or 60 percent year-on-year.
Yuanta Securities analyst Vincent Chen (陳豊丰) cautioned about near-term prospects, however.
“In our view, an uptick in notebook ODM shipments in June is mainly a result of sell-in strength, and we believe demand in Western Europe remains weak. Back-to-school demand is still unclear,” Chen said in a July 1 report.
Chen expects shipments from Quanta, as well as its rival, Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶), to lose steam this month. He added that the recent shipment pick-up in China was a result of price cuts.
Chen’s view coincides with Quanta, which last month said that shipment growth would decelerate by about 10 to 20 percent in the third quarter from the second quarter.
Separately, Wistron Corp (緯創), the nation’s No. 3 contract laptop maker, said sales last month rose 15.6 percent month-on-month, or 16.6 percent year-on-year, to NT$56.18 billion.
That brought the notebook maker’s second-quarter revenues to NT$148.8 billion, up 4 percent from the first quarter’s NT$143.36 billion. That also represented 17 percent growth from the same period last year.
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