Shipments by Taiwanese manufacturers of notebook computers grew at a slower-than-expected quarterly pace of 4.5 percent in the second quarter, as Intel Corp delayed the launch of its new chips and global economic weakness damped demand, researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said in its latest report.
IDC had projected a 7.9 percent quarterly growth in shipments for the April to June period, an IDC report released on Thursday said.
“Delay in the launch of [Intel’s] new Montevina platform is one of the main reasons,” IDC PC analyst Helen Chiang (江芳韻) said in the report.
Rising inflation mainly caused by the oil price rise also hurt end demand and local contract notebook makers orders, IDC said.
Local notebook computer manufacturers, led by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), shipped around 28 million units in the second quarter, up 42 percent from a year ago, as consumers continue to replace their desktop computers with laptops, the report said.
Because of a falling average selling price, local laptop computer makers shipped US$14.81 billion in notebooks last quarter, up 38.5 percent year-on-year, IDC data showed.
Looking ahead, Chiang said the persistent sub-prime crisis in the US and weakening demand in Europe could be potential factors that drag notebook shipments lower in the third quarter.
In the second quarter, Quanta ranked No. 1 among the nation’s notebook computer manufacturers, grabbing a 31 percent share of the market in terms of shipments.
Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) grabbed the second spot with a 23 percent share and Wistron Corp (緯創) seized a 16 percent share in third, IDC data showed.
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