Shares in Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s second-largest maker of PCs, slumped 6.9 percent to NT$67.8 by close of trading yesterday after the company lowered its forecast for first-quarter sales, the biggest intraday decline since March 15.
The benchmark TAIEX dropped 0.5 percent.
First-quarter revenue from PCs looks set to fall about 10 percent from the previous three months because of “relatively weaker” demand in Western Europe and the US, Acer said on Friday.
The company said second-quarter sales are expected to be roughly the same as the current quarter, an outlook that Daiwa Capital Markets analyst Calvin Huang (黃文堯) attributed to possible supply disruptions caused by the earthquake in Japan.
“We believe the disruption to supplies is the major reason behind its conservative view” for the second quarter, Huang wrote in a report on Friday. The Hong Kong-based analyst cut his recommendation for Acer from “hold” to “sell.”
Acer spokesman Henry Wang (汪島雄) did not immediately return three calls seeking comment to his office and mobile telephones or respond to an e-mail. Last month, Wang said first quarter shipments and sales would rise 3 percent from the previous three months.
Meanwhile, shares in Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) fell 5.7 percent, and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦) dropped 5.2 percent, as Huang said they are among the electronics companies that could be forced to cut forecasts as a result of possible component shortages.
“Acer could be just the first shock in the Taiwan notebook sector,” Huang said.
Separately, Acer’s board nominated Julian Horn-Smith and F.C. Tseng (曾繁城) as independent directors, the company said in an e-mailed statement.
Horn-Smith is a former deputy CEO of Vodafone Group and Tseng is the vice chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the statement said. Shareholders will vote on the appointments at a meeting to be held in Taipei on June 15, it said.
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Taiwan has enough crude oil reserves for more than 100 days and sufficient natural gas reserves for more than 11 days, both above the regulatory safety requirement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, adding that the government would prioritize domestic price stability as conflicts in the Middle East continue. Overall, energy supply for this month is secure, and the government is continuing efforts to ensure sufficient supply for next month, Kung told reporters after meeting with representatives from business groups at the ministry in Taipei. The ministry has been holding daily cross-ministry meetings at the Executive Yuan to ensure
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Property transactions in the nation’s six special municipalities plunged last month, as a lengthy Lunar New Year holiday combined with ongoing credit tightening dampened housing market activity, data compiled by local land administration offices released on Monday showed. The six cities recorded a total of 10,480 property transfers last month, down 42.5 percent from January and marking the second-lowest monthly level on record, the data showed. “The sharp drop largely reflected seasonal factors and tighter credit conditions,” Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) deputy research manager Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday fell in February this year, reducing
RSS