Computer vendor Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday said it aims to return to the black this quarter after its inventory reduced to a stable level, and it narrowed quarterly losses last quarter amid a fragile pickup in consumer demand.
The projection is better than its estimates two months ago. Asustek told investors in March that operating margin would drift into negative territory in the first two quarters of this year.
As the company reduced its inventory to a manageable level last quarter, Asustek said that there is a high likelihood that its bottom line would reach a break-even point this quarter, earlier than expected.
Photo: Fang Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
The company’s inventory dropped 40 percent year-on-year to NT$115.85 billion (US$3.77 billion), it said.
Asustek plans to maintain inventory at a similar level this quarter, as it is preparing for a peak in seasonal demand in the second half of this year, it said.
The company posted about NT$900 million in reversal of inventory write-downs during the January-March period, reflecting the company’s strong inventory management, it said.
“The industry’s overall inventory has improved and is approaching a healthy level, with channel stockpile dropping to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels,” Asustek chief executive officer Samson Hu (胡書賓) told an investors’ conference yesterday.
“Inventory is not a crucial problem. Market demand is our focus,” Hu said. “During the second quarter, we are seeing demand creep up. Supply chains remain conservative about pulling products.”
PC shipments are to expand 20 percent sequentially during this quarter, supported by recovering demand from consumer models and gaming computers, Asustek said.
Entering the sector’s peak season next quarter, the company expects PC shipments to grow by a double-digit percentage, it said.
Shipments of motherboards and graphics cards are to contract 5 percent quarter-on-quarter during this quarter, which is better than a double-digit percentage decline previously posted during the slack season, it said.
PCs accounted for 59 percent of the company’s total revenue last quarter, while motherboards and graphics cards made up 40 percent, it said, adding that smartphones accounted for 1 percent.
The company posted a quarterly loss of NT$1.68 billion last quarter, compared with a loss of NT$3.82 billion in the fourth quarter of last year. That was the second unprofitable quarter for the PC brand based in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投).
Earnings per share were minus -NT$2.3 last quarter, an improvement on minus-NT$5.1 in the previous quarter.
During the first quarter of last year, the company posted net profit of NT$10.43 billion, or earnings per share of NT$14.
Operating profit margin improved to minus-3.6 percent last quarter, from minus-4.2 percent in the fourth quarter of last year — down from 7.9 percent a year earlier.
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) shares yesterday notched their best two-day rally on record, as investors flock to the Taiwanese chip designer on excitement over its tie-up with Google. The Taipei-listed stock jumped 8.59 percent, capping a two-session surge of 19 percent and closing at a fresh all-time high of NT$1,770. That extended a two-month rally on growing awareness of MediaTek’s work on Google’s tensor processing units (TPUs), which are chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications. It also highlights how fund managers faced with single-stock limits on their holding of market titan Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are diversifying into other AI-related firms.
RSS