Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) expects to see rising smartphone sales next quarter as the company overcomes supply chain constraints.
The sales contribution from the company’s mobile business unit is expected to grow by up to 30 percent sequentially this quarter following the launch of new and revised models, Asustek chief executive officer Jerry Shen (沈振來) told an investors’ conference in Taipei.
New models such as the ZenFone Max Pro received a much-warmer-than-expected reception in emerging markets such as India and Indonesia, Shen said, noting that demand has outpaced the company’s production capacity.
Photo: CNA
While the shortage of passive modules and camera sensors would continue to limit smartphone shipments and result in a shortage this quarter, constraints are likely to be resolved in the beginning of next quarter as the inventory ramp-up period winds down, Shen said, adding that the company expects accelerated mobile sales growth in the second half of this year.
Market demand has far exceeded expectations, leaving the company unable to fill orders, but Shen said that he is confident that Asustek would be among the few brands to fare well in the increasingly tough smartphone market.
The company reported that net income in the first quarter dipped 35 percent annually and 41 percent quarterly to NT$2.38 billion (US$79.94 million) as the slow season crimped demand for PCs, motherboards, graphics cards and other components. Earnings per share were NT$3.2.
Earnings during the period were also dented by the provisioning of 65 million euros as the company braces for anticipated fines from the European Commission, which launched an investigation into improper maintenance of retail prices in February last year.
Due to the provision, the company posted NT$2.09 billion under its non-operating items on its latest audited statements, and recorded a foreign-exchange gain of NT$1.17 billion.
Net revenue during the past quarter dipped 8 percent annually and 13 percent sequentially to NT$90.06 billion.
Gross margin inched up from 13.7 percent the previous quarter to 14 percent, with operating margin rising from 3.8 percent to 4.5 percent, helped by the company’s organizational restructuring efforts, Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) said.
PC and component sales this quarter could continue to dip as much as 12.5 percent and 25 percent respectively, Wu said.
Blockchain mining has been a highly unpredictable factor affecting sales of graphics cards and related components, which could drop further this quarter following a recent downturn in the digital asset’s value, he said.
“It’s nice to get a boost from mining, but we do not give it a significant weighting in our modeling,” Wu said.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
RSS