Taiwan took 81.3% share of global notebook PC sales in Q2: MIC

Taipei, Aug. 11, 2005 (CENS)--Taiwan is expected to ship 47 million notebook PCs this year (including those made overseas) for an 81.3% share of the global supply, according to the Market Intelligence Center (MIC) under the Institute for Information Industry.

MIC also pointed out that Taiwan's annual production value of IT and communication products would challenge the US$100 billion mark for the first time this year.

According to MIC, Taiwan's output value of IT and communication products (including computers, displays, mobile telecom product etc.) reached about US$47 billion in the first half, up 15% from the same period of last year. The center predicted the total annual value to outstrip US$100 billion, as the second half is traditionally a peak period.

MIC pointed out that notebook PCs enjoyed hot sales in the second quarter, due partly to the price gap with desktop models shortened from US$800 to US$300 and partly to price-cutting campaigns effectively fueling buying sentiment. MIC also raised its projection for global notebook PC shipment volume this year to 57-58 million units (with an annual growth rate of 25%) from 54-55 million units (20%) projected early this year.

With MIC's encouraging predictions, the stock prices of all the major local notebook PC contract makers rallied, including Quanta Computer Inc., Compal Electronics Inc., Wistron Corp., Inventec Corp. and Asustek Computer Inc. All the top-five makers together account for 84.1% of Taiwan's total notebook PC shipment, further compressing the space for survival of second-tier makers.

MIC also pointed out that desktop PCs sales in the U.S. and Europe were not so good in the second quarter, a traditionally off season; but sales in some emerging markets remained strong. In the second quarter, MIC reported, Taiwan's contract makers shipped about nine million desktop PCs, accounting for 31.7% of the global supply. The shipment volume is expected to grow 11.9% to 10.08 million units in the third quarter.

MIC industry analyst Lin Jiah-hong said that in the second quarter, many big international computer brands tried to boost their market shares by pushing low-price notebook PC models, further fueling the replacement of desktop models by notebook models. This made notebook PC sales volume for the quarter higher than expected.

In the second quarter, Lin said, Taiwan companies shipped 10.88 million notebook PCs, up 47% from the same period of last year and accounting for 81.2% of the global sales volume.

MIC predicted a smooth sales period for notebook PCs in the third quarter due to the "back to school" effects and increasingly popular wireless applications for such machines.