Laptop maker Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday said it was unable to keep up with demand for its low-cost Eee PC series primarily as a result of limited battery supplies, but said it would retain its shipment target of 5 million units for this year.
As Asustek cannot produce enough units to meet demand for the low-cost laptop, it is forced to put its plan of introducing the product into more markets temporarily on hold, said Lillian Lin (
Asustek sells the Eee PC series in most Asian countries and parts of Europe including Germany and Britain.
"Batteries are the main factor. Most notebook makers have been affected by [the factory fire at supplier] LG. We are working on it," Lin said.
Lin made the remarks on the sidelines of a product launch for the company's Microsoft Windows Eee PC, which went on sale in January in Japan.
Prices for the Windows Eee PC start at NT$12,499 for a model with a 4 gigabyte solid state drive (SSD). Prices for Eee PCs running Linux and equipped with a 2 gigabyte SSD start at NT$7,999.
Lin declined to say whether Asustek would miss its target of shipping 700,000 Eee PCs in the first quarter as a result of the battery problem.
A fire halted battery production at a LG Chem Ltd plant earlier this month. LG is South Korea's No.2 notebook battery maker.
Asustek chairman Jonney Shih (
The goal to ship 5 million units is still achievable as growth momentum is quite strong, Shih said.
In June, Asustek plans to unveil a next-generation Eee PC with an 8.9-inch liquid-crystal-display (LCD) screen in Taiwan, the company said.
The larger-screen Eee PC will come in both Linux and Microsoft versions, it said.
"People are recognizing the growing need for a second laptop to get online easily and enjoy digital life. This is an important trend," Shih said. "We hope to create a new market that could become another NT$1 billion market."
Commenting on the US subprime credit crisis, Shih said that the impact for Asustek would be very limited because of its small presence in the US.
The company's biggest markets for its brand business are in Europe and Asia.
Shih said that although many Taiwanese electronics manufacturers were setting up operations in Vietnam, Asustek was betting on India, where it said market growth could see a sudden explosion.
"India has growth potential similar to what China's used to be," he said.
To increase its understanding of the Indian market, Shih said he had made a six day visit to the country last week, where Asustek has set up a branch with more than 100 staffers in Mumbai.
Asustek shares declined for the fourth trading session in a row to close at NT$87.7 yesterday.
GEOPOLITICAL ISSUES? The economics ministry said that political factors should not affect supply chains linking global satellite firms and Taiwanese manufacturers Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) asked Taiwanese suppliers to transfer manufacturing out of Taiwan, leading to some relocating portions of their supply chain, according to sources employed by and close to the equipment makers and corporate documents. A source at a company that is one of the numerous subcontractors that provide components for SpaceX’s Starlink satellite Internet products said that SpaceX asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan because of geopolitical risks, pushing at least one to move production to Vietnam. A second source who collaborates with Taiwanese satellite component makers in the nation said that suppliers were directly
Top Taiwanese officials yesterday moved to ease concern about the potential fallout of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, making a case that the technology restrictions promised by the former US president against China would outweigh the risks to the island. The prospect of Trump’s victory in this week’s election is a worry for Taipei given the Republican nominee in the past cast doubt over the US commitment to defend it from Beijing. But other policies championed by Trump toward China hold some appeal for Taiwan. National Development Council Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) described the proposed technology curbs as potentially having
EXPORT CONTROLS: US lawmakers have grown more concerned that the US Department of Commerce might not be aggressively enforcing its chip restrictions The US on Friday said it imposed a US$500,000 penalty on New York-based GlobalFoundries Inc, the world’s third-largest contract chipmaker, for shipping chips without authorization to an affiliate of blacklisted Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯). The US Department of Commerce in a statement said GlobalFoundries sent 74 shipments worth US$17.1 million to SJ Semiconductor Corp (盛合晶微半導體), an affiliate of SMIC, without seeking a license. Both SMIC and SJ Semiconductor were added to the department’s trade restriction Entity List in 2020 over SMIC’s alleged ties to the Chinese military-industrial complex. SMIC has denied wrongdoing. Exports to firms on the list
SPECULATION: The central bank cut the loan-to-value ratio for mortgages on second homes by 10 percent and denied grace periods to prevent a real-estate bubble The central bank’s board members in September agreed to tighten lending terms to induce a soft landing in the housing market, although some raised doubts that they would achieve the intended effect, the meeting’s minutes released yesterday showed. The central bank on Sept. 18 introduced harsher loan restrictions for mortgages across Taiwan in the hope of curbing housing speculation and hoarding that could create a bubble and threaten the financial system’s stability. Toward the aim, it cut the loan-to-value ratio by 10 percent for second and subsequent home mortgages and denied grace periods for first mortgages if applicants already owned other residential
RSS