The nation’s top contract notebook producers all saw monthly decreases in consolidated revenues last month, as shipments slowed ahead of the launch of Windows 8-equipped devices in the fourth quarter, according to statements issued by companies.
Microsoft Corp announced on Thursday last week that it had released its next-generation operating system to manufacturing, which represented the final stage before Windows 8 hits the market on Oct. 26.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), the world’s largest contract notebook producer, said in a statement on Wednesday that its consolidated revenue last month was NT$88.99 billion (US$2.97 billion), which was down 1.58 percent month-on-month, but up 3.98 percent from the same month last year.
The company said it shipped 4.5 million notebooks last month, which also represented a decrease of 16.67 percent from the 5.4 million units it shipped in June.
In the first seven months, the company said its accumulated revenue was NT$544.74 billion, down 9.78 percent year-on-year.
Quanta’s monthly sales decline was smaller than those of its domestic rivals such as Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶), Wistron Corp (緯創) and Pegatron Corp (和碩), as the company benefited from MacBook orders from Apple Inc and contributions from non-notebook devices.
On the other hand, Compal, the world’s second-largest contract producer of notebooks, yesterday said its consolidated revenue last month was NT$56.08 billion, down 10.95 percent month-on-month, according to a company statement.
Compal attributed the monthly decrease mainly to a decline of laptop shipments to 3 million units from 3.5 million units the previous month, although it expected this month’s shipments would grow between 5 and 10 percent from last month.
On a yearly basis, last month’s sales revenue was 3.33 percent lower than the NT$58.01 billion recorded a year earlier, Compal said. Accumulated revenue for the first seven months was down 5.73 percent to NT$382.2 billion from NT$405.45 billion the year before, it said.
Wistron, the world’s third-biggest contract notebook producer, also saw lower shipments of its products across the board with the exception of desktop computers and LCD monitors.
Moreover, notebook shipments fell to 2.35 million units last month from 3 million units the previous month, further dragging down the company’s consolidated revenue to NT$48.84 billion last month, down 16.32 percent month-on-month and 5.28 percent year-on-year. However, Wistron, which also sells LCD TVs and smart mobile devices, said its total sales between January and last month increased 10.51 percent year-on-year to NT$384.64 billion.
Meanwhile, Pegatron Corp (和碩) reported a 3.21 percent month-on-month decline in revenue last month to NT$63.72 billion on a consolidated basis, because of a double-digit decrease in shipments of notebooks.
However, last month’s figure represented the second-highest in the company’s history after June’s NT$65.83 billion and indicated a jump of 23.30 percent from the same period of last year, the company’s data showed.
In the first seven months, its accumulated revenue was N$394.76 billion, up 66 percent year-on-year, Pegatron said.
Pegatron is a manufacturing spinoff of PC vendor Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which yesterday said unconsolidated sales last month was NT$30.21 billion, 16.14 percent lower than NT$36.02 billion in June and 5.18 percent less than NT$31.86 billion a year earlier.
Total revenue between January and July was NT$203.67 billion, up 21.64 percent year-on-year, Asustek said.
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