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To: etchmeister who wrote (5711)	4/17/2008 12:54:47 AM
From: etchmeister	Respond to of 5867

Taiwan`s Contract NB PC makers Rake in Booming Sales in March 2008/04/16 Taipei, April 16, 2008 (CENS)--Taiwan`s leading contract manufacturers of notebook computers, including Quanta Computer Inc. and Wistron Corp., saw booming sales in March. Domestic institutional investors predicted domestic NB contract manufacturing industry will see shipments continue to grow at the pace of 10% up to 15% year-on-year in the second quarter of this year. Quanta, the world`s top-notch contract manufacturer of NBs, said it registered NT$75.9 billion (US$2.48 billion at US$1:NT$30.5) in sales in March, up 45% year-on-year and up 28.7% from the preceding month and hitting a third-highest record in history. The company shipped three million units of NBs in March. The company had cumulative sales of NT$202.6 billion (US$7.23 billion) in first quarter of this year, representing a year-on-year growth of 38.6%. But the company saw shipments decline 15% to reach eight million units in March from 9.4 million units posted in the fourth quarter of last year. Quanta predicted it would be able to grab a 5% up to 10% growth in shipment in the second quarter from the preceding quarter. In addition to orders for NBs, Quanta has also received orders for low-price PCs. There is a rumor that the company has taken orders for one million units of low-price computers from Acer Inc. and will begin fulfill the orders from the second quarter of this year. Thanks to the increased orders from such big brands as Apple, Hewlett Packard and Toshiba, Quanta is expected to see annual shipments grow 19% up to 25% year-on-year this year. Because of its efforts to control production costs and contribution of shareholdings on AU Optronics Corp., Quanta will see net operating earnings reach NT$6 (US$0.196) per share on sales of NT$880 billion (US$28.85 billion) this year. Thanks to the injection of orders from such big clients as Acer, Hewlett Packard and Dell Computer, Wistron Corp. saw shipments of PCs grow at a pace faster than anticipated in the first quarter. The company said it shipped 250,000 units of LCD (liquid crystal display) TVs in the first quarter of this year. Due to the injection of orders from the Japan-based Sony Corp., the company predicted it would see shipments of LCD TVs reach between 350,000 and 400,000 units in the second quarter. Inventec Corp. another NB manufacturer in Taiwan, noted it registered NT$21.823 billion (US$715.5 million) in sales in March, up 3.089% year-on-year and up 5.18% from the preceding month. The company had cumulative sales of NT$66.023 billion (US$2.16 billion) in the first quarter, up 13.49% year-on-year. The company predicted it would see shipments grow over 10% in the second quarter from the preceding quarter. Inventec said it would be able to ship between 12 million and 13 million units of NBs this year, up 30% from the year earlier.

To: etchmeister who wrote (5711)	4/24/2008 11:52:02 PM
From: etchmeister	Respond to of 5867

Message #5711 from etchmeister at 4/11/2008 11:06:51 PM January to March 2008 is up 34.5% - LOL Oh yeah ... THE market - 0h WHAT market tsmc.com LOL...this market sucks and it is slow like melase.. TSMC Q1 seen strong; UMC and Chartered weaker Reuters EE Times (04/24/2008 4:30 AM EDT) TAIPEI, April 24 - Top contract chip maker TSMC is likely to post stronger quarterly profits than a year ago on rising sales of chips for PCs and consumer gadgets, but rivals UMC and Chartered Semiconductor will see weaker results on slower orders from major clients. The results from the world's three biggest foundries could fall from the previous quarter as weakness in the global economy this year weighed on chip sales, and a stronger Taiwan dollar squeezed margins at TSMC and UMC. (See below for table of forecasts) Although PC and gadget sales are expected to be typically slower in the first half, some analysts say new computers and feature-jammed mobile phones could fly off the shelves in the second half, spurring fresh demand for the chips that go in them. "Many PC brands will be launching new models and we also have high hopes on new applications in the 3G mobile phone market," said Nigel Lee, who manages T$750 million ($25 million) for Taiwan's National Investment Trust. In his current portfolios, Lee owns shares of TSMC, which has greater economies of scale and a wider customer base than UMC and Chartered, whose first quarter could be hurt by falling orders from a clients such as Advanced Micro Devices As a Christmas buying spree ended, TSMC's first-quarter sales dropped 7 percent from October-December, while those at UMC fell 13 percent. Their second-quarter sales would be flat sequentially, according to Reuters Estimates. Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor has been hit by slower orders from AMD and Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 video game console, as Intel Corp has been gaining market share at AMD's expense, while demand for the Xbox has been hurt partly by stiff competition from Nintendo's Wii. "The second quarter is expected to remain muted, as industry-wide, we're expecting quite a bit of weakness," said Daiwa Institute of Research analyst Pranab Sarmah. "Customers remain pretty cautious about replenishing their inventory." But the outlook for Chartered should brighten in the second half as it takes on a wider mix of customers, said Macquarie Securities analyst Patrick Yau. Investors had largely priced in a weak first quarter and were convinced of an upcoming recovery. TSMC's Taipei-listed shares have risen 29 percent since a trough in late January, outpacing the main TAIEX's 21 percent gain. UMC shares were up 8 percent in the same period. Credit Suisse put an "outperform" rating on TSMC and set a target share price of T$74, based on a price/book ratio of 3.7 times. That represents about a 16 percent upside from TSMC's Thursday close. Its UMC target price is T$22, 18 percent higher than the current level. Q1 PROFIT FORECASTS AND SHARE PERFORMANCE Net profit Change (%) Shr performance Y/Y Q/Q Jan-Mar 2008 (%) TSMC T$27,113 mln +43.9 -21.4 +1.8 UMC T$340 mln -76.7 -75.0 -7.2 Chartered US$3.24 mln -38.9 -5.3 -25 (Additional reporting by Jennifer Tan in SINGAPORE, editing by Louise Heavens) (US$1=T$30.3)