Signaling signs of recovery in the information technology sector, sales of Taiwan’s IT hardware in the first quarter increased 23.7% to US$10.598 billion from a year earlier and will likely grow at a 17.5% annual rate in 2002, according to a report released by the Market Intelligence Center (MIC) on April 29.
Computer peripherals exhibited especially solid performance, said Victor Tsan, director of MIC. From January to March, LCD monitors outpaced all other products in sales growth, growing 188.3% by value from a year earlier, followed by optical storage devices at 70.1% and digital still cameras (DSCs) at 47%.
LCD monitors also claimed the greatest shipment growth at 259.1%, followed by optical storage devices and notebooks at 47% and 45.3%, respectively. The report predicted that for the year, sales of LCD monitors will more than double in value from 2001 while shipments grow 91.9%, topping all other IT hardware products.
Tsan cautioned that Taiwan’s worldwide market share of LCDs slipped to 54.1% in the first quarter from 58.6% in 2001. The decrease indicates that Taiwan may have lost ground to South Korea due to insufficient investment in the component sector and procurement problems, he said.
IT goods made in China as a percentage of Taiwan’s total output increased to 49.4% in the first quarter versus 36.9% a year ago, while the percentage made in Taiwan fell to 38.4% from 47.1%. Tsan said despite the slippage, Taiwan could still retain its competitiveness through technology research and value-added product development.
Tsan also named several important trends in the marketplace for 2002, including further division between own-brand and OEM businesses, higher notebook penetration, new product segments created by the DeskNote from Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) and LCD PCs that merge both notebook and desktop features, the potential influence of fast-rising LCD panel prices on sales and the role of CD-RW drives as a main profit driver for many Taiwanese hardware makers.
|
Taiwan major IT hardware product output, 1Q 2002 | ||||
|
Product |
Sales (US$m) |
Y/Y growth (%) |
Shipments (thousand units) |
Y/Y growth (%) |
|
Notebooks |
3,449 |
33.2 |
4,185 |
45.3 |
|
Desktop PCs |
1,559 |
(2.2) |
5,551 |
(9.1) |
|
Motherboards |
1,464 |
1.9 |
21,667 |
2.8 |
|
Servers |
332 |
3.8 |
366 |
13 |
|
CDT monitors |
1,226 |
(15.1) |
10,982 |
(4.5) |
|
LCD monitors |
1,439 |
188.3 |
4,214 |
259.1 |
|
CD/CD-R/DVD drives |
910 |
70.1 |
20,395 |
47.7 |
|
DSCs |
219 |
47 |
1,994 |
11.6 |
|
Total |
10,598 |
23.7 |
|
|
Source: MIC, compiled by DigiTimes, April 2002.
|
Taiwan major IT hardware product output, 2002 (forecast) | ||||
|
Product |
Sales (US$m) |
Growth (%) |
Shipments (thousand units) |
Growth (%) |
|
Notebooks |
12,935 |
5.7 |
17,008 |
20.1 |
|
Desktop PCs |
7,474 |
8.9 |
26,343 |
3.7 |
|
Motherboards |
5,858 |
3.7 |
86,147 |
6.9 |
|
Servers |
1,447 |
11.3 |
1,645 |
19.2 |
|
CDT monitors |
4,598 |
(12.2) |
43,300 |
(6.2) |
|
LCD monitors |
6,300 |
101.2 |
17,821 |
91.9 |
|
CD/CD-R/DVD drives |
3,899 |
85.1 |
84,442 |
62.4 |
|
DSCs |
1,741 |
53.8 |
11,565 |
31.1 |
|
Total |
44,252 |
17.5 |
|
|
Source: MIC, compiled by DigiTimes, April 2002.
Article translated by Chou Hua-hsin and edited by Richard So
