Online shopping portal PChome (網絡家庭) yesterday said it plans to set up three warehouses in two years as consumer demand for non-PC products increases.
The company started operation of its fourth warehouse, in New Taipei City’s Wugu District (五股) on Jan. 1, and plans to launch its fifth warehouse during the first half of next year, PChome’s sales division manager Vicky Tseng (曾薰儀) told an investors’ conference.
The new warehouse will focus particularly on non-PC products, such as fans and breadmakers, as well as food products including rice, noodles and soy sauce, Tseng said.
NON-PC DEMAND
“Demand for non-PC products is growing at a faster-than-expected pace,” she said. “Our financial report showed that consumers are placing more orders for non-PC products — rather than desktops, notebooks or displays — which attract buyers with lower prices online,” Tseng said.
“This change indicates either weakening market demand for PCs or changes to the purchasing behavior of customers,” she added.
Of the company’s total sales of NT$16.3 billion (US$538.25 million) last year, sales of non-PC products accounted for about 70 percent, according to the company’s financial report.
While the personal computer industry is likely to remain sluggish this year, Tseng said PChome has seen its sales of PC products grow by more than 20 percent month-on-month since November last year.
SALES MOMENTUM
“Taiwan’s PC market is gaining new sales momentum,” Tseng said. “At least, we have seen PC sales increase significantly in the past few months.”
For the whole of last year, PChome’s sales of various PC-related products grew by 1 to 3 percent from the previous year, but the growth is estimated to reach more than 5 percent this year because of the potential replacement demand for PCs, Tseng said.
END OF XP
The replacement demand comes at a time when Microsoft Corp is set to end its support for machines running the Window XP operating system later this month.
Because of new investments on equipment and warehouses, PChome’s operating income would slide from NT$663 million last year, Tseng said, citing the company’s plans to spend about NT$30 million to NT$50 million on setting up or renting each warehouse.
Tseng said sales would increase on a quarterly basis this year as the company aims to shorten its product delivery time in Taipei to less than six hours from 24 hours currently.
SPEED OF LIGHT: US lawmakers urged the commerce department to examine the national security threats from China’s development of silicon photonics technology US President Joe Biden’s administration on Monday said it is finalizing rules that would limit US investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology sectors in China that could threaten US national security. The rules, which were proposed in June by the US Department of the Treasury, were directed by an executive order signed by Biden in August last year covering three key sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and certain AI systems. The rules are to take effect on Jan. 2 next year and would be overseen by the Treasury’s newly created Office of Global Transactions. The Treasury said the “narrow
SPECULATION: The central bank cut the loan-to-value ratio for mortgages on second homes by 10 percent and denied grace periods to prevent a real-estate bubble The central bank’s board members in September agreed to tighten lending terms to induce a soft landing in the housing market, although some raised doubts that they would achieve the intended effect, the meeting’s minutes released yesterday showed. The central bank on Sept. 18 introduced harsher loan restrictions for mortgages across Taiwan in the hope of curbing housing speculation and hoarding that could create a bubble and threaten the financial system’s stability. Toward the aim, it cut the loan-to-value ratio by 10 percent for second and subsequent home mortgages and denied grace periods for first mortgages if applicants already owned other residential
SPECIALIZIATION: OpenAI is designing a new type of semiconductor with Broadcom that would run artificial intelligence software and respond to user requests OpenAI is working with Broadcom Inc to develop a new artificial intelligence (AI) chip specifically focused on running AI models after they have been trained, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The AI start-up and chipmaker are also consulting with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest chip contract manufacturer, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. OpenAI has been planning a custom chip and working on such uses for the technology for about a year, but the discussions are still at an early stage, the sources said. OpenAI declined
RAPID GROWTH: MediaTek said that it expects revenue from its flagship smartphone chip to grow by 70 percent, driven by demand for artificial intelligence applications Smartphone chip designer Media-Tek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said that it would perform better than the seasonal pattern with revenue forecast to grow 2 percent quarterly, thanks to robust demand for its new flagship smartphone chip that enables PC-like artificial intelligence (AI) features on phones. The strong demand for the new Dimensity 9400 chip this year prompted MediaTek to raise its flagship smartphone chip revenue growth to 70 percent year-on-year, up from of an earlier estimate of 50 percent growth. “For the fourth quarter, the strong ramp of Dimensity 9400 is expected to offset the lower seasonal demand for the mainstream