Via Technologies Inc (威盛電子), the world's second-largest computer chipset maker, is expected to say first-quarter profit tumbled as the company lost market share to rivals using the latest technology.
The company will probably report net income of NT$977 million (US$28 million), or NT$1.04 per share, from NT$2.3 billion, or NT$4.01 a share, a year ago, the average of three estimates by analysts in a Bloomberg News survey showed. First-quarter sales fell 29 percent to NT$7.3 billion from the same period a year ago, Via said earlier. The company will report earnings today.
Via's sales in the second quarter will probably decline from the first three months because the company will continue to lose market share to rivals that are making products that work with Intel Corp's latest PC processor, analysts said.
"The Intel Pentium 4 is gaining momentum," said Rick Hsu (徐禕成), an analyst with Nomura Secu-rities Co. "Most major motherboard makers are still not using Via's Pentium 4 chipset because of licensing concerns."
Chipsets work with a processor to manage the functions of a computer such as graphics and memory. Intel, the world's biggest chipmaker, has signed agreements with Via's smaller rivals, Silicon Integrated Systems Corp (
Silicon Integrated, Via's next-largest rival, said that its first-quarter sales rose by more than half to NT$3.6 billion. Acer Labs, which makes chipsets for PCs and DVD players, said first-quarter sales rose to NT$1.5 billion from NT$892 million a year ago.
Intel, which also makes chipsets, said it plans to regain much of the market share it lost to Taiwan rivals starting two years ago. Intel's share of the market may return to 70 percent from the 50 percent it currently has, according to Howard High, an Intel spokesman.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
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STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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