According to MIC (Market Intelligence Center, Taiwan), an ICT industry research institute based in Taipei, benefiting from strong demand in emerging markets and with some brands aggressively rolling out consumer models and new product promotions, shipment volume of the Taiwanese notebook PC industry is estimated at 26.6 million units in the second quarter of 2008, growing 37.9% year-on-year.
The worldwide notebook PC market in the second quarter of 2008 was affected by rising labor costs, increasing raw material prices and reductions in corporate IT spending, and enterprise products did not perform strongly. Consumer models were in the traditional off-season, while rising global material prices affected consumers' willingness to procure products. This caused some brand-name vendors to have relatively weak performances in the North American and Western European markets. In China, notebook PC procurement demand was affected by the Sichuan earthquake in the second quarter.
Regarding components, originally it was expected that the fires of the Panasonic and LGC battery cell factories would have a significant impact on the market and affect some makers' shipment. However, battery cell manufacturers returned to production according to schedule, and some makers started to use products supplied by Chinese manufacturers, gradually resolving the battery cell shortages.
The Taiwanese industry's ASP (Average Selling Price) continued to fall due to three major factors: first, demand in the second quarter weakened, and some vendors launched price promotions to stimulate demand. Secondly, several brands' high-end model shipment did not meet expectations. Thirdly, vendors were awaiting the effects of the Montevina platform launch, and in the second quarter they continued to push older models, affecting ASP. Even though upstream component makers and several ODM (Original Design Manufacturing) makers raised prices to reflect growing costs of raw materials, this did not immediately help ASP. These adjustments in contract production prices are expected to become clearer towards the end of the third quarter and the fourth quarter. ASP fell from US$518 in the first quarter to US$511 in the second quarter. The industry's shipment value reached an estimated US$13.58 billion in the second quarter, up 30.4% year-on-year. In the third quarter, ASP could return to the level of the beginning of 2008 as new models will be rolled out.
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About MIC
Market Intelligence Center, based in Taipei, Taiwan, was founded in 1987. MIC is Taiwan's premier IT industry research and consulting firm providing intelligence, in-depth analysis, and strategic consulting services on global IT product and technology trends, focusing on markets and industries in Asia-Pacific. MIC is part of the Institute for Information Industry. https://mic.iii.org.tw/english