Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Patrick E.McDaniel who wrote (146560)	11/5/1999 5:40:00 AM
From: Mick Mørmøny	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

Taiwan PC Makers Squeezed By Quake, Handset Demand Mr. McDaniel: Sir, Please interpret the hidden meaning of this article to a non-English speaking shareholder. :-# All I can think of is: there's fortune out of misfortune. What d'ya think, Coach Kemble won't mind if I'll buy more on the dips prior to earnings? :-@ $$$ *Taiwan PC Makers Squeezed By Quake, Handset Demand* November 5, 1999 Filed at 3:06 a.m. EDT HSINCHU, Taiwan (Reuters) - Taiwan personal computer and motherboard makers say the end is in sight for supply chain delays blamed on September's earthquake, but competition with mobile phone makers for components showed no signs of easing. Computer makers say the quake's impact on delivery of key components such as core memory chipsets -- which allow a PC's microprocessor brain to communicate with other parts of the system -- is expected to ease by the end of November. A major earthquake on September 21 killed more than 2,400 people and sidelined Taiwan's computer parts industry for nearly two weeks with widespread blackouts and power rationing. PRODUCTION COOLED JUST AS SALES HEATED UP While virtually no manufacturers reported physical damage to plants and equipment, the production halt came just as Taiwan's prodigious electronics exporters were limbering up for the fourth quarter -- always the hottest sales period. ''We have enough orders but don't have enough supplies to produce,'' said Billy Ho, chairman of Mitac International Corp, which makes PCs and notebook computers for Compaq, Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems. The peak shortage period began in October and things were returning to normal in November, Ho said during a tour of Hsinchu science park, the heart of Taiwan's technology industry. ''This is a bad situation,'' Ho said as he blamed the quake for T$300 million (US$9 million) to T$400 million in lost revenues. Mitac's lament has reverberated in the United States. Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard and others have warned that high computer memory prices and parts shortages blamed on the earthquake could hit fourth-quarter corporate results. MEMORY, CHIPSETS, GRAPHICS HIT HARDEST One internal report by a Taiwan computer firm released to Reuters on condition of anonymity said the longest delays -- four to five weeks -- involved chipset makers. Taiwan supplies 20-30 percent of the world's motherboard chipsets. Flash memory chips saw the biggest price hikes with a 40 percent post-quake surge, with supply and demand gaps of three to four weeks seen being ironed out in early November. ''The memory shortage is not really that bad, but I think the price rise has caused hoarding and speculation, which made things worse,'' said Henry Lu, vice president of Micro-Star International, Taiwan's second-largest motherboard maker. Microstar saw higher prices and limited supplies for the graphics chips that allow computers to support sophisticated design applications and visually dazzling video-game effects. Some 85 percent of all graphics chips are made in Taiwan. MOBILE PHONE RAGE HARRIES PC MAKERS While Mitac's Ho and Microstar's Lu both agreed the shortages were tapering off, they also concurred that competition with mobile phone manufacturers was here to stay -- and furious. ''Mobile phones are going crazy right now,'' Ho said. ''Phone makers are paying much higher prices'' for memory than PC makers. Lu saw a similar situation in passive components such as resistors. ''I've heard that phone makers pay two to four times more than we do for resistors,'' he said. ''I have only one way to describe our situation: Nokia alone will make 80 million handsets this year,'' Lu said. Finland's Nokia overtook Motorola in 1998 as the world's leading maker of mobile telephones.