Leading ICT Makers Conservative About Biz Climate for 2006

Taipei, June 21, 2006 (CENS)--Most responsible persons of leading information and communication technology (ICT) companies in Taiwan expressed a conservative attitude toward this year's business climate when presiding over shareholders' meetings.

Some other firms, such as Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co. Ltd., Quanta Computer Inc., Compal Communications Inc., and BenQ Corp. etc., are conservative about the growth momentums in the second quarter and third.

At Hon Hai's recent shareholders' meeting, Terry Gou, chairman of the world's No. 1 barebone PC, connector, and game-console maker, pointed out that the sales prospects for the second half of the year would be brighter than the first half, but he refused to comment on the whole-year market conditions.

Many ICT makers and institutional investors are much concerned about Gou's comment as IT and consumer-electronic markets have been expanding yearly or even monthly, and the market demand in the second half are traditionally stronger than that in the first half.

Michael Wang, CEO of Quanta, the world's largest contract notebook PC supplier, also pointed out that the global business climate for this year is not so good as projected originally. Due to Intel's price-cutting and platform-shift strategies, Wang said that Quanta's whole-year notebook PC shipment would be subject to a 10% fluctuation.

Industry sources said that the global personal computer (PC) shipment posted a stagnation in May and June, and major notebook PC makers' revenue suffered a 20% decline in May from April.

Ray Chen, chairman of Compal Communications, the largest cell-phone contract supplier in Taiwan, said that his company's shipment in the third quarter, traditionally a peak season, would not enjoy as strong growth momentum as originally expected.

Shaffer Lee, president or BenQ, which acquired Siemens' cell-phone business, also deemed that makers would slow down their launch of new cell-phone models in the second quarter.

Robert Yeh, chairman of Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd., Taiwan's largest light-emitting diode (LED) supplier, noted that the LED application in notebook PC backlight modules would be postponed to the fourth quarter from the third.