Tablet devices running on Microsoft Corp’s new Windows 8 operating system are expected to account for just 5 percent of the world’s overall tablet market next year, market researcher IDC said yesterday, because demand would be capped by their higher retail prices compared with major rivals.
Shipments of Windows 8 tablets, equipped with Intel Corp’s processors, are expected to reach 7 million units next year, IDC vice president Bob O’Donnell said on the sidelines of a technology forum arranged by the research house in Taipei.
Apple’s iPad series would continue to dominate the market by capturing a more than 50 percent share with shipments totaling nearly 150 million units next year, O’Donnell said.
“The problem is that Apple has set a [price] standard for tablets,” O’Donnell said. “In people’s minds, US$499 is the price for a tablet.”
Windows-based tablets are likely to be priced between US$599 and US$899 per unit, according to a forecast by Taipei-based research house Digitimes.
People may spend US$699 for a PC, but not for a tablet, as shown by the weak sales of tablets made by Samsung and HP, O’Donnell said.
O’Donnell said that worldwide PC shipments would grow by 5 percent this year from last year’s 350 million units, helped by replacement demand following the sales of the Windows 8 system and sales of new Ultrabooks.
The growth would come mainly from the BRIC nations — Brazil, Russia, India and China — he said.
O’Donnell said Ultrabooks would make up 10 percent of all notebook computer shipments this year, accounting for 15 percent of consumer-type notebooks, meaning that there was still a long way to go before reaching the 40 percent penetration rate of consumer-type laptops forecast by Intel.
Another IDC analyst, Helen Chiang (江芳韻), said that notebook computer shipments from contract manufacturers led by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) would grow at an annual rate of 6.93 percent to 213 million units this year.
Separately, IDC’s display analyst Annabelle Hsu (徐美雯) said disappointing flat-panel TV sales in China during the three-day May 1 holiday shopping season could jeopardize the price uptrend for TV panels.
TV sales in China only grew at 6 percent annually during the holiday, falling short of an estimate of a 10 percent expansion, Hsu said.
Prices for LCD TV panels with sizes larger than 40 inches are expected to slide again as inventories rise amid weaker-than-expected TV sales and an increase in new output in the second half, Hsu said. She did not provide a detailed forecast.
US PROBE: The Information reported that the US Department of Commerce is investigating whether the firm made advanced chips for China’s Huawei Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract maker of advanced chips, yesterday said it is a law-abiding company, and is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations including export controls. The Hsinchu-based chip giant issued the statement after US news Web site The Information ran a story saying that the US Department of Commerce has launched a probe into TSMC over whether it breached export rules by making smartphone or artificial intelligence (AI) chips for China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為). “We maintain a robust and comprehensive export system for monitoring and ensuring compliance,” the statement said. “If we
DEMAND FOR AI CHIPS: Net income in the third quarter surged 31.2% quarter-on-quarter to NT$325.26 billion, the strongest quarterly return in the company’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday raised its revenue forecast to annual growth of 30 percent this year, thanks to strong and sustainable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) processors for servers. It was the second upward adjustment from 25 percent year-on-year growth estimated three months ago, despite recent concerns about whether the AI boom could be another technology bubble. “The demand is real. It’s real. And I believe it is just the beginning of this demand. Alright, so one of my key customers said the demand right now is ‘insane,’” TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C.
Starbucks Corp might have the more recognizable name, but 7-Eleven’s City Cafe remains the king of Taiwan’s fresh coffee market, helped by the convenience store chain’s extensive market presence and product diversification. President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商), which runs both the 7-Eleven and Starbucks store chains in Taiwan, established the City Cafe brand in 2004. The brand took off when actress Gwei Lun-mei (桂綸鎂) became its spokesperson in 2007. City Cafe’s sales exceeded NT$10 billion (US$311.69 million) for the first time in 2015, surpassing the revenue of Starbucks Taiwan, and rose to more than NT$17 billion last year, exceeding the NT$14.98
COUNTRY-BASED: Setting ceilings on sales of the technology would tighten limits that originally targeted China’s ambitions in artificial intelligence amid security risks US officials have discussed capping sales of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips from Nvidia Corp and other American companies on a country-specific basis, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would limit some nations’ AI capabilities. The new approach would set a ceiling on export licenses for some countries in the interest of national security, according to the people, who described the private discussions on condition of anonymity. Officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden focused on Persian Gulf countries that have a growing appetite for AI data centers and the deep pockets to fund them, the people