Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world’s biggest contract notebook computer maker, yesterday said that it expects shipments to increase 10 percent quarter-on-quarter for the last three months of this year, thanks to strong demand.
The company shipped more than 18 million laptop computers last quarter, Quanta vice chairman C.C. Leung (梁次震) said, adding that he expects a further increase, which would bring the company’s notebook shipments to 600 million units this year, he said.
“The demand is still very strong,” Leung said. “We expect the first half of next year to resemble the second half of this year.”
Photo: CNA
Quanta also announced a NT$2 billion (US$69.33 million) investment at its Thailand production facilities.
Its third production facility in Taiwan would also be operational in May next year, it added.
Net profits soared 81.5 percent year-on-year to NT$7.87 billion last quarter from NT$4.34 billion in the third quarter of last year. On a quarterly basis, net profits expanded 25.9 percent from NT$6.25 billion.
Earnings per share (EPS) rose to NT$2.03 last quarter from NT$1.13 a year earlier and NT$1.62 a quarter earlier.
Gross margin rose to 5.86 percent last quarter, from 4.82 percent in the same quarter last year. That was a decline from 6.21 percent in the second quarter of this year.
Quanta chairman Barry Lam (林百里) at an investors’ conference described Quanta’s third-quarter performance as a “grand slam.”
“We were worried about factory stoppages and flagging markets at the start of the year,” Lam said. “However, demand soared, especially for laptops and cloud products.”
Quanta’s third-quarter revenue was NT$327.35 billion, up 23.5 percent year-on-year from NT$265.14 billion in the third quarter last year.Total revenue for the first three quarters of the year was NT$787.8 billion, up 7.6 percent year-on-year. Net profit was NT$16.7 billion, up 46.1 percent year-on-year.
EPS for the first three quarters was NT$4.33, surpassing the EPS for the whole of last year, which was NT$4.14.
Expressing confidence that the company’s direction is “clear for the next 10 years,” Lam said that Quanta is to “build upon the core technologies of artificial intelligence and 5G” to introduce products such as robotic arms and self-driving trucks.
“Quanta makes tools,” Lam said. “Whether our clients want tools in the field of smart medicine, transportation or buildings, Quanta will make them.”
“I expect the next 10 years to bring even more rapid technological changes,” Lam said.
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