Taiwanese Notebook PC Shipment Expected to Reach 19.6M Units in 2Q07

Taiwan's notebook PC shipment volume is expected to grow more than 40 percent year-on-year to about 19.6 million units in the second quarter of 2007, according to Taipei-based Market Intelligence Center (MIC). Intel launched Santa Rosa platform products in May, while the company is also adjusting prices of some of its products. This is expected to stimulate demand among high-end consumers.

Meanwhile, to prepare for the peak season in the second half of the year and avoid possible shortages of key components in the second half, many vendors will advance the release of orders for relatively standard products to the second quarter of 2007.

In the first quarter of 2007, notebook PC demand in major regional markets was on the upswing, and consumer spending in emerging markets, including Central and Eastern Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, continued to increase. Furthermore, international brands engaged in new product promotions coinciding with the market launch of the home edition of Windows Vista at the end of January. Due to increased orders from international brands, Taiwanese notebook PC shipment volume in the first quarter of 2007 reached 18.5 million units, up 40.9 percent year-on-year, but down 6.9 percent sequentially.

Despite the fact that the share of full-system shipments grew, the Taiwanese industry was still unable to stop the decline in average selling prices (ASPs). In the first quarter of 2007, ASP fell to $553. Due to the ASP decline, shipment value did not grow as strongly as shipment volume, with shipment value reaching approximately $10.24 billion in the first quarter, up 31.1 percent year-on-year.

Although Dell and Lenovo's shipments rebounded in March, HP and Acer, which focus on full-system shipments, have a stronger shipment performance in the first quarter, increasing the full-system shipment share of the Taiwanese industry by three percentage points, thereby breaking the 70 percent-barrier. Also, Dell is considering releasing full-system orders as it tries to improve its competitiveness in the consumer market. If this were to happen, the barebone shipment share in the Greater China notebook PC industry is expected to continue to slide in the coming quarters.

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