Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) and Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday posted contrasting revenue results for last quarter, with Asustek weaker than expected, while Acer boasted strong sales.
Asustek posted revenue of NT$113.4 billion (US$3.84 billion), a decline of 10 percent annually and 1 percent quarterly, according to the company’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The company missed the forecast it issued in November last year, when it told investors that revenue was expected to increase from the NT$114.47 billion recorded in the third quarter.
Asustek’s annual revenue contracted for a third consecutive year, falling 7.15 percent to NT$433.43 billion, company data showed.
Asustek attributed last quarter’s sluggish sales to its move to reduce shipments of products that have limited room for profit as a way of boosting profitability, but it did not identify the products.
Its PC shipments, including notebooks, accounted for 63 percent of its total revenue in the third quarter of last year, while its smartphone shipments contributed 15 percent, the data showed.
“We are continuing to improve our product and shipment portfolio with the goal of raising Asustek’s operating margin,” spokesman Nick Wu (吳長榮) said by telephone.
The shipment strategy has started to pay off, as shown by an increase in Asustek’s average selling prices, he said.
Asustek expects its operational growth momentum to recover this year, as it is accelerating its delivery of new products to maintain sales momentum in the PC and smartphone markets, Wu said.
Meanwhile, Acer’s revenue grew by 9 percent annually last quarter to NT$67.1 billion.
Sales increased 11 percent from the previous quarter, Acer’s filing with the stock exchange showed.
“A strong fourth quarter demonstrates Acer’s continuous business momentum,” the company said in a news release, attributing the result to the fast-growing gaming products sector, Windows-based commercial notebooks, Chromebooks and its artificial intelligence business.
For the full year, Acer saw a 1.98 percent year-on-year growth in sales to NT$237.33 billion, recovering from the 11.67 percent decline recorded in 2016.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
POWER BUILDUP: Powered by Nvidia’s B200 Blackwell chips, the data center would support MediaTek’s computing power demand and business growth, the company said Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) data center with a maximum capacity of 45 megawatts to meet its rising demand for computing power required to develop new advanced chips for AI applications. The company has completed the first-phase computing power buildup at the data center in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), providing 15 megawatts of capacity to support its research and development (R&D) capabilities, despite an industrywide shortage of key components, MediaTek said. Supply constraints have plagued a wide range of key components, including memory chips, solid-state drives, power supply units and central
IMAGE SENSORS: The Japanese company would be the controlling shareholder of the venture, with development and production lines to be set up in Kumamoto Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp to create a joint venture to develop and produce next-generation images sensors. The partnership seeks to explore and address emerging opportunities in physical artificial intelligence (AI) applications, such as automotive and robotics, paving the way for innovations and expanded technological advancements, TSMC said in a statement. Sony would be the majority and controlling shareholder of the joint venture, the statement said, adding that the company would set up development and production lines in its newly constructed fab in Kumamoto Prefecture’s
RSS