Worldwide top-5 notebook brands saw combined shipments shrink 20% on month and rise 7% on year in July as Intel's CPU shortages started improving and vendors continued preparing extra inventory as a precaution against US tariffs, according to Digitimes Research's latest monthly notebook update.

IT and consumer electronics channel distributor Synnex Technology International has reported consolidated revenues of NT$28.336 billion (US$909 million) for July, increasing 9.55% sequentially and but decreasing 12.04% on year.

Quanta Computer is evaluating the feasibility of setting up a new plant in Southeast Asia, with Thailand being the favorite choice. Sources familiar with the matter identified Chonburi as the most likely place for the notebook ODM to build the manufacturing operations.

Clevo, which specializes in gaming and niche notebook manufacturing, expects to post sequential shipment growth of 30% in the third quarter as demand for gaming notebooks from China, according to vice president of the company's Notebook Business Group I-Lung Chien.

The US is delaying imposing 10% tariffs on some consumer electronics products from China, including notebooks and handsets, but the cloud of uncertainty created by the US-China trade war is still hovering over the IT industry. Taiwan-based notebook ODMs remain conservative about their shipments in...

Asustek Computer has reported revenues from brand business decreased 15% sequentially and 11% on year to NT$71.27 billion (US$2.26 billion) in the second quarter with net profit slipping 23% on quarter but increasing 26% on year to NT$1.68 billion.

Compal Eletronics has warned that Intel CPU shortages remain a factor, along with the US-China trade war, affecting notebook shipments, with the ODM expecting a decline in the third quarter before a rebound in the fourth.

The US government's latest decision to delay the impelmentation of a 10% tariff on notebook imports has not changed the minds of notebook ODMs who have already made plans to move some of their production out of China, according to industry sources.

Taiwan's major notebook ODMs had weak results in July as clients were reluctant to further build up inventory despite the upcoming 10% tariffs the US will impose on their notebooks imported from from China. Some clients have also failed to make it clear whether they want the manufacturing partners...

Asustek Computer has reported consolidated revenues for July 2019 increased 5.9% from a year earlier to NT$25.53 billion (US$812 million), ending a 22-month streak of on-year decreases.

Major notebook ODMs saw sharp declines in shipments in July, as clients showed little intention of accelerating inventory buildups despite the US decision to slap 10% tariffs on imports from China, including notebooks, starting September.

There have been signs that the impact of the US trade ban on Huawei may be waning, as the Chinese vendor has recently set an even more ambitious goal for its handset shipments for 2019. Huawei has also resumed orders for notebooks and 5G...

Huawei has resumed pulling in new orders for notebooks and also restarted the development of 5G-enabled notebook models, according to sources from the vendor's Taiwan-based supply chain.

Taiwan makers produced over 90% of the notebooks worldwide in 2008. The top-five notebook makers - Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics, Wistron, Inventec and Asustek Computer - contributed 88% of the shipments from Taiwan.

Volatile international trade conditions are expected to persist into at least the next US presidential race, and firms must focus more on long-term development of the supply chains rather than on US-China tariff war, according to TH Tung, chairman of Taiwan-based EMS specialist Pegatron.

The latest escalation in the US-China trade war may have cast a shadow over the IT supply chain, but the world's top foundry house TSMC is seeing strong demand for its 7nm production capacity. One of its major clients for the 7nm node...

Notebook ODMs are expected to enjoy higher-than-expected shipments in August, as the 10% tariff on China-sourced notebooks staring September 1 has promoted brand vendors to stockpile inventories by asking production partners to deliver as many shipments as possible by the end of the month, according...

Notebook vendors have not asked their ODMs to enforce a new round of production relocation in response to a new 10% tariff to be levied by the US on the remaining US$300 billion in Chinese imports including notebooks starting September 1, partly because they are awaiting the outcome of the US-China...

The Trump administration's latest move to slap a 10% tariff on the remaining US$300 billion worth of Chinese imports, including handsets, notebooks and TVs, starting September 1 may significantly dent the sales upturn momentum for terminal markets, which in turn will cloud the prospects for relevant...

Apple saw disappointing iPhone sales during its fiscal third quarter 2019, and its component suppliers see weak order visibility for the vendor's upcoming iPhones. And things seem to be heading for the worse for Apple following US President...

The world's top-3 notebook vendors Lenovo, HP and Dell are set to introduce their first 5G models in the second half of 2019, and Apple is also expected to roll out its 5G MacBook series in the second half of 2020, according to industry sources.

Intel has launched 11 highly-integrated 10th Gen Intel Core processors, manufactured via its 10nm process and designed for 2-in-1s and notebooks. The processors bring artificial intelligence (AI) to the PC at scale, feature new Intel Iris Plus graphics and Intel Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) and Thunderbolt 3, according...

After falling 8.7% on quarter and 11.9% on year to 32.66 million units in the second quarter of 2019, global tablet PC shipments are expected to surge 19.3% sequentially in the third quarter, thanks to the peak-season effect, the launch of new iPads, and Huawei gradually resuming normal tablet shipments,...

Samsung Electronics and Apple have seen impressive tablet sales in Taiwan, with the former's surging 24% on year in volume and 16% in value so far this year, according to industry sources.

Worldwide notebook shipments rose over 20% sequentially in the second quarter of 2019, but volumes in both the third and fourth quarters are expected to experience sequential declines, according to Digitimes Research's latest notebook tracker.