Taiwan's PC, Telecom Industries See Sales Rise in March
May 21, 2001 (TAIPEI) -- Taiwan's major electronics-related manufacturers listed on the stock market (excluding companies registered on the over-the-counter market) saw sales in March rise 4.9 percent from March 2000 and by 12.9 percent from the previous month.
In the January-March quarter, such sales rose 8.3 percent on a year-on-year basis.
Companies in the PC industry, which were recovering slowly after making inventory adjustments, and those in the telecommunication and network industries (and the mobile phone industry in particular), witnessed deteriorating sales.
In the semiconductor sectors, the DRAM-related industry saw a slight recovery on a month-on-month basis because of the price rally, but the foundry industry was stagnant. LCD panel and electronic components industries had slight recoveries, except for the ceramic condenser industry, which has not accomplished inventory adjustments due to the tight supply-demand relations in 2000.
Motherboard makers enjoyed March sales increases for the second straight month, while the desktop PC business was still sluggish. I once commented that the bottom was likely to be seen in the notebook PC industry. It did hit bottom in March. Its recovery pace may be better than that of the desktop PC business, because demand for notebook PCs should be encouraged by price wars.
The following report details the current state of each sector:
(1) Semiconductors
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC) and Unipac Optoelectronics Corp. (UMC) were still in severe business environments, although the respective conditions were slightly different. TSMC increased its sales by 1 percent month-on-month while UMC showed a decrease of 12 percent month-on-month. The business environment backfired on UMC, which had a high sales ratio in the telecom-related field.
As for the DRAM-related industry, sales prices rose in March, resulting in an increase of the sales growth rate for Winbond Electronics Corp., Nanya Technology Corp., and Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. (PSC) month-on-month. Among such firms, Nanya's campaign for kit sales of its Double Data Rate Synchronous DRAM (DDR-SDRAM) with VIA Technologies Inc.'s chips, worked out, and it enjoyed a sales increase of 44 percent from the previous month, and an increase of 64 percent from the same month a year ago. In the Assembly Process industry, both Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Group and Siliconware Precision Industries Co., Ltd. (SPIL) revived. ASE increased its sales by 15 percent, and SPIL by 22 percent month-on-month. SPIL, whose ratio in PC-related field is higher, saw a greater increase.
A major chipset manufacturer, VIA, increased its sales by 24 percent month-on-month, and 57 percent year-on-year. But the fact that VIA's sales included memories for the kit sales with Nanya's DDR-SDRAMs should be noted. Sales of such memories were estimated to reach NT$250 million. Silicon Integrated Systems Corp. (SIS) saw sales rise 22 percent month-on-month, and by 104 percent year-on-year. This was because SIS improved the yields to as high as 65 percent at its factories and its shipments grew to motherboard manufacturers.
(2) LCD Panels
Among TFT-LCD panel manufacturers, both Acer Display Technologies Inc., and Unipac Optoelectronics Corp. increased their sales, by 11 percent and 23 percent respectively, month-on-month. The rise in sales caused by the increasing demand for LCD monitors contributed to such successes. However, the operation rate as well as the unit sales price both fell on a month-on-month basis, by 60 percent and 10 percent, respectively, for Acer Display. Therefore, revenues may be deteriorating. It may be difficult for the firm to make more profit in large-size panels for the time being. A mild recovery can be expected in this business environment.
On the other hand, Wintek Corp., which engaged in the production of STN LCD panels for Motorola's mobile phones, saw its sales fall by 3 percent month-on-month, and by 34 percent year-on-year. Its sales were only 60 percent of those in April or October 2000. Picvue Electronics, Ltd., which supplied black and white panels for PDAs to Palm Inc. as well as Handspring Inc., increased its sales by 59 percent year-on-year. However, the increase was only 5 percent month-on-month, showing a declining tendency.
(3) PC Assembly
The desktop PC industry was not so promising. Acer Inc.'s sales fell by 2 percent, First International Computer Inc.'s sales rose 5 percent, and Mitac Inc.'s sales rose 6 percent, all month-on-month. Acer Inc.'s January-March sales fell 37 percent year-on-year.
The motherboard industry recovered. Asustek Computer Inc.'s sales rose 8 percent from the previous month, continuing a favorable performance since February. Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd., which showed a slight increase in February month-on-month, achieved a 17 percent sales increase month-on-month. Micro-Star International Co.'s sales rose by 22 percent from the previous month. Elitegroup Computer Systems Co., Ltd., which sold low-price items to the do-it-yourself (DIY) market in Europe, Asia, and Central and South America, increased its sales by 16 percent month-on-month and by 92 percent year-on-year.
Asustek is lowering its sales prices slightly, while Elitegroup, which sells low-end items, achieved a relatively good performance. It was estimated that firm demand was partly triggered by the markets in Europe, Asia and Central and South America, and partly created by the decrease in the sales prices. In Europe, the sales may be slow after the second quarter this year. Furthermore, demand in Asia may slow due to the sluggish U.S. economy.
The notebook PC field showed a recovering tendency. User-side's inventory adjustments for Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) should have ended. Quanta Computer Inc., the top manufacturer, saw its sales rise 72 percent from the previous month, and by 50 percent from the same month a year ago. However, these increases must have been created because Dell Computer Corp., Apple Computer Inc., and Compaq Computer Corp. shipped new PC models in the same month. It might be difficult to maintain the same pace of increase after the second quarter of 2001.
Arima Computer Corp. deserves attention. Arima provided OEM consumer model Presario components to Compaq, increasing the production to 100,000 units in March from 50,000 units in January. Its sales increased by 58 percent month-on-month, and 27 percent year-on-year, although its prospects for the second quarter are uncertain.
(4) Mobile Phone Assembly
Acer Communications increased its sales by 25 percent from the previous month, by performing original development manufacturing (ODM) for Motorola. The sales increase in LCD monitors largely contributed to its success, while sales of mobile phones remained sluggish. DBTel Inc., another OEM supplier to Motorola, increased its sales by 31 percent from the previous month, but its sales fell 64 percent from the same month a year ago, reaching only a third of the level of its best month.
Related stories:
Outlook for Taiwan's PC Industry: Current Status and Future Prospects
Taiwan's Information Hardware Output Value Set for Zero Growth in 2001
Motherboard Companies Mostly Report Healthy First Quarter Profits
Top Taiwanese Chipmakers Boost R&D Spending in Q1
LCD Display Makers Compete for Orders by Slashing Quotes and Cutting Profits
Taiwan's IC Testers, Assemblers See Rising Capacity Usage Percentages
(Yasuo Nakane , Senior Analyst, Daiwa Institute of Research Taipei Representative Office, Special to Nikkei Microdevices) |
