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Aggressive promotion of low-priced consumer notebook PCs by leading brand-name vendors drove Taiwanese notebook PC shipments to a record-high 5.6 million units in the second quarter of 2003. Undeterred by SARS, Taiwanese notebook PC shipment volume grew 22.5% year on year and 8.9% from the first quarter of 2003.
In terms of display sizes, models bundling 15" panels comprised 51% of total shipments. Combined with models equipped with 14" displays, these two screen specifications accounted for over 90% of Taiwanese notebook PC shipments.
With a slew new rollouts, the drop in average selling price leveled off in the second quarter, dropping a mild 3.5% from US$690 in the first quarter of 2003 to US$666. Shipment value, fueled by strong volume growth accompanied with the gentle price declines, increased 6.2% year on year to a new peak of US$3.6 billion.
Value-line models launched by brand-name vendors are expected to continue boosting volume growth in the third quarter of 2003. However, Japanese and Korean makers are set to begin small-scale production at production sites in China in the second half of 2003, posing a challenge to the future volume growth of Taiwanese players. Additionally, the prolonged shortage in panel supply threatens to constrict Taiwanese makers looking to sustain the gains of recent quarters.