Good Morning Joey and ALL...Article...Active buying at Taipei Expo...
-------------------------------------------------------
Taipei Computer Expo Ends Amid Active Buying
December 17, 1997 (TAIPEI) -- The annual Taipei Computer Expo, long regarded as a major battlefield for information product suppliers in Taiwan, ended on Dec. 14 amid a spree of active buying.
Preliminary estimates show that the sales volume during the trade show was close to expectations. In addition, the active buying spree seen during the show is likely to continue into similar trade shows that will be held in central and southern Taiwan in the run up to the end of this month.
A strong wait-and-see attitude haunted the local computer market in mid-1997, when microprocessor giants such as Intel Corp., Cyrix Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. cut prices successively to boost market share.
Both domestic computer makers and computer importers suffered sluggish sales in the summer, which is normally a peak season for the local computer market. In an effort to reach their annual business targets, computer companies waged an even fiercer price-cutting war at the recent Taipei computer trade show. The average profit margins for companies participating in the show dropped by 2-3 percent.
It is estimated that the three top computer suppliers in the local market -- Synnex Technology International Corp., System Telecommunication and Computer Inc. (maker of "Leo" brand products) and Acer Inc. -- sold more than 3,000, 2,000 and 1,000 computers, respectively, at the show.
Sales of personal computers equipped with the Pentium II were better than expected. Local companies such as Acer Sertek Inc., System Telecom and Computer and Umax Data System Inc. saw Pentium II PCs accounting for nearly 50 percent of overall PC sales. The figure was even higher for Synnex, at nearly 60 percent. In terms of notebook computer sales, 60-70 percent of them were installed with 166MHz Pentium processors with MMX technology.
Price cuts are expected to remain the focus of the upcoming computer trade shows to be held in southern and central Taiwan. The scale of price cuts there, however, may be limited. Both Synnex and System Telecom pointed out that the sharp depreciation of the local currency has imposed heavier production costs on local computer companies.
On the other hand, a spokesman for NEC Taiwan said his company may lower product prices further in the upcoming trade show, in an effort to cover shrinking profit margins in PC sales with revenues from computer peripherals.
(Commercial Times, Taiwan)
______________________________________________________________________
Regards, Michael |
