Taiwan companies troubled with 802.11b short supply and tight capacity
digitimes.com
Daniel Shen, Taipei; Chinmei Sung , DigiTimes.com [Tuesday 26 August 2003]
WLAN equipment makers in Taiwan lately have been troubled by short supply of 802.11b chipsets and tight capacity in their factories, as they met with unexpected demand for 802.11b WLAN equipment.
After the ratification of the 802.11g standard in June, the industry has been cutting supply of 802.11b chipsets, anticipating a smooth migration from the 802.11b to 802.11g products. It has been to everyone's surprise that demand for 802.11b products remains strong, especially for external WLAN cards supporting the USB and PCMCIA interfaces, said Barry Su, president of Prime Electronics & Satellitics.
Prime Electronics & Satellitics finds itself about 25% short in 802.11b chip supply. However, the company expects shipments to be normalized in September. Prime Electronics & Satellitics depends on ADMtek and Atmel Semiconductor for 802.11b chipsets. It handles production for D-Link, SMC Networks, Belkin, Corega, Planet Technology, Edimax Technology and ActionTec Electronics.
Global Sun Technology, the contract manufacturer of several major WLAN vendors such as D-Link, AT&T and China Mobile, has also experienced tight production capacity since July. The company had to push some of its deliveries to August, according to company spokesperson Mark Kao. Shipments of close to 200,000 units of WLAN equipment were delayed, Kao said. The company depends on Texas Instruments (TI) for 802.11b+ chipsets.
SparkLan Communications CEO Mike Chen said that the Intel Centrino campaign continues to drive demand for WLAN equipment, and the so called “June-to-August low season” did not occur this year. He expects demand in the fourth-quarter high season will be even greater.
The three largest dedicated WLAN equipment makers in Taiwan - CyberTAN Technology, GemTek Technology and Global Sun Technology - are all experiencing tight capacity. T.Y. Lee, vice president of Global Sun, said orders exceed their expectation, and the company has to outsource production to outside companies. According to an earlier report , Global Sun will ramp up production to ship one million units in November and 1.2 million units in December. |
