Wednesday November 28, 3:08 PM
Taiwan computer hardware output seen rising in 2002
sg.biz.yahoo.com
TAIPEI, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Taiwan's production of desktop computers is projected to rise 3.9 percent to US$6.9 billion in 2002, while notebook computers are seen remaining flat at US$12.69 billion, a research agency said on Wednesday.
The gains will come on the back of a recovery in the battered global PC industry that will begin in the second half of 2002, Abel Wang, research director at the hardware department of the Market Intelligence Center (MIC), told a technology seminar.
MIC is the market research arm of the government-funded think tank, the Institute for Information Industry.
Shipments of desktop PCs would amount to 27 million units in 2002, up 5.8 percent from 2001, and local notebook PC makers would ship 14.6 million units next year, up 5.2 percent from this year, Wang said.
That would represent a modest rebound from a very tough 2001.
Total production of Taiwan's information technology hardware in 2001 is expected to fall 10.3 percent from a year ago to US$42.2 billion due to a global economic slowdown, Wang estimated.
"After the events of September 11, shrinking corporate spending and weak consumption in the United States have added pressure on the computer industry," he said, referring to the suicide hijacked airliner attacks on U.S. landmarks.
In the consumer market, Wang said the this year's seasonal Christmas boom is unlikely to match market expectations even after Microsoft launched its new operating system, Windows XP.
Taiwan is the the world's third largest computer equipment maker and the fourth largest semiconductor maker, and most of its electronics firms are contract suppliers to their U.S. counterparts.
This year, the production value of Taiwan's notebook computers will drop 6.3 percent from 2000 to US$12.7 billion, while that of desktop computers would slip 14.8 percent to US$6.64 billion, the MIC said in a report.
In addition, the production value of computer motherboards would fall 2.9 percent from a year ago to US$5.51 billion in 2001, the MIC said.
In 2001, about 47 percent of Taiwan's desktop PC production and some 53 percent of Taiwan's motherboard production will come from manufacturing plants in China. |
