AWSJ:Taiwan Tech Sector To Recover If 4Q US Demand Rises
By Erik Guyot
TAIPEI (Dow Jones)--Taiwan's battered technology sector appears positioned for a recovery if demand from the U.S. picks up in the fourth quarter, said some economists.
Taiwan's exporters, especially semiconductor manufacturers, have cut their inventories far more than their rivals in South Korea, said Cheng Cheng-mount, an economist at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research in an telephone interview last week. In the first half of 2001, inventories among all Taiwan companies dropped by about NT$45 billion ($1=NT$34.583).
In contrast, South Korean semiconductor manufacturers piled on "a sharp increase," in inventories, said Younghoon Koo, chief economist at the Korea Center for International Finance in Seoul. Koo said in an interview on Friday that aside from rising inventories at semiconductor companies, steel and petrochemical companies also had increasing inventories. Koo said, "The increase in semiconductor's (inventories) is relatively high," compared with other sectors.
From April to May of this year, inventories at all Korean companies rose by 2.1%.
Anecdotal evidence from Taiwan's two biggest chip manufacturers suggests that Taiwan's tech companies have been trimming inventories.
Inventories at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) were at NT$6.7 billion as of June 30, down 17% from their level of NT$8 billion at the end of the first quarter, according to J.P. Morgan.
United Microelectronics Corp. (Q.UME) cut its inventories more. As of June 30, the company's level of inventories stood at NT$8 billion, down 25% from NT$10.6 billion at the end of the first quarter, according to J.P. Morgan. |
