Sales of PC-Related Businesses Recover Partially, But Overall Industry Remains Weak
March 28, 2001 (TAIPEI) -- The combined sales of listed companies in the electronics sector in Taiwan in February 2001 surged 16.8 percent year-on-year and 3.9 percent month-on-month.
These figures do not include data from firms listed on the over-the-counter market.
The total amount of their sales for the January-February period increased by 10.4 percent year-on-year. Taking into consideration the almost one-week-long Chinese New Year holiday in January, it would be correct to say that sales in the sector were on the decline for two months in a row during the period.
By sector, sales of upstream sectors, such as LSI manufacturers, are slumping, depressed by a decline in retail prices and the operating ratio. Sales of liquid-crystal display (LCD) panels and electronic parts remain weak, though they already have hit bottom.
As for the downstream sector, sales of motherboards showed a moderate recovery for two consecutive months from January. PC sales seem to have hit bottom. However, they have yet to show any signs of an immediate recovery, because demand still remains weak.
As for the PC subsector, sales of motherboards, which are in great demand in the European do-it-yourself market, including white box PCs and consumer-assembled PCs, are relatively brisk.
The total amount of parts procurement also showed an upward trend again. Sales of both desktop and notebook PCs that were produced on an original equipment manufacturing basis have yet to show a definite sign of recovery.
Sales of mobile phone-related products have yet to hit bottom, and attention is focused on their sales trend in the coming several months.
Sales of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and Taiwan-based United Microelectronics Corp. dropped by 28 percent and 21 percent, respectively, month-on-month, owing to a decline in their operating ratio. Many Taiwan-based, DRAM-related companies, including Winbond Electronics Corp., Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. and ProMOS Technologies, Inc., suffered a double-digit sales drop month-on-month. PSC, in particular, recorded the largest decline of 28 percent.
Taiwan-based Macronix International Co., Ltd., which is expanding its sales of mask ROMs for Nintendo Co., Ltd., registered a small month-on-month decline of one percent. The business downturn in IC packaging also became conspicuous. The Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Group suffered a month-on-month sales decline of eight percent, and Siliconware Precision Industries Co., Ltd., a 14-percent decline.
VIA Technologies Inc., Taiwan's leading chip set manufacturer, showed a continuous a recovery in its sales. In February, its sales showed a five-percent, month-on-month increase, and a 125-percent year-on-year increase. The chip set is often used as a key indicator for forecasting the trend of demand.
Taiwan-based thin-film transistor LCD manufacturers showed a slight improvement in sales. Acer Display Inc., for example, increased its sales by 10 percent month-to-month, Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Ltd. by 12 percent, and Unipac Optoelectronics Corp. by six percent. While their sales volume is picking up. backed by recovering demand for monitors, the unit price of the TFT-LCD is dropping sharply. For this reason, it seems that the absolute level of their sales remains low, and their revenues are shrinking.
Wintek Corp., the Taiwan-based manufacturer that produces super-twisted nematic liquid crystals for mobile phones of U.S.-based Motorola Inc., has been suffering from sluggish sales since the fourth quarter of the year 2000. The company's sales surged eight percent month-on-month, but tumbled 19 percent year-on-year.
Related stories:
TSMC, UMC Expect Month-on-Month Sales Drop in March
Taiwan's TFT-LCD Panels Slumping for Notebooks, Up for Monitors
January Sales Hit Bottom for Some Taiwan PC Parts Makers
(Yasuo Nakane, Senior Analyst, Daiwa Institute of Research Taipei Representative Office; special to Nikkei Microdevices) |
