PC vendor Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday said it would strive to keep its PC shipments flat this year, compared with last year, by minimizing the adverse effects of high inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic on PC sales.
Sales of consumer PCs have been declining due to a deteriorating external environment, but the company has still set the aggressive goal of outgrowing the overall PC industry by 10 percent, Asustek co-CEO S.Y. Hsu (許先越) told shareholders in Taipei.
The company expects global consumer PC shipments this year to contract 10 percent year-on-year due to high inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic, Hsu said.
Photo: CNA
That means Asusek has to maintain its PC shipments at a similar level to last year, or at least ship between 21.5 million and 23 million units, he said.
“Asustek has managed to deliver a strong first-quarter performance, but we expect the second half to be a challenging period,” Hsu said.
With more countries reopening and resuming normal activities, the PC industry is returning to normal business cycles, Hsu said.
As it takes five years for consumers to replace their old PCs, based on data from Intel Corp, there would be limited demand from consumers as many have bought new PCs to cope with remote schooling, working from home and entertaining themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, adding that enterprise demand would outpace consumer demand for PCs.
However, Asustek has limited exposure to the enterprise PC market, the company said.
To expand its presence in the enterprise market, Asustek doubled its investment in the development of enterprise PCs last quarter compared with the same period last year, Asustek co-CEO Samsun Hu (胡書賓) told shareholders.
Addressing shareholders’ concerns about its rapidly growing inventory, Hu said the company expects high-season demand in the third and fourth quarters to help reduce inventory.
Asustek saw inventory spike 82 percent to NT$193.4 billion (US$6.55 billion) last quarter, compared with NT$158 billion a year earlier, as prolonged lockdowns in Chinese cities such as Shanghai upended logistics.
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