Taiwan High Tech.Com

Contract Manufacturing and Beyond...

BRING ON THE ORDERS:

Computex orders??
For some reason, the big OEMs like Dell, HP, and Legend didn't release huge orders at the huge Computex this year as is usually the case. The biggest buyer was probably Haier (China), which plans to spend NT$10B on WLAN, PHS, and DRAM, with major parnters being TwinMos and Powerchip.

Sharp TFT-LCD panels
Sampo won orders from Sharp to exclusively supply 15- and 17-inch TFT-LCD panels. The panels will be produced in Kunshan in China beginning June 1.

Intel MB
Intel has placed OEM MB orders with Hon Hai, Mitac, and FIC (which replaced Asustek). The Taiwan MB makers have received 15M of the 18M MBs Intel will outsource in 2004.

Arima shipping 12M cell phones to...
Sony Ericsson (T100 and Z200) and NEC, among others. 12M is the 2004 full year company forecast. More about Arima.

HP desktop orders
HP has recently ordered desktop PCs from Asustek, beating out Foxconn.

Sony 7-inch panels
CPT has received orders from Sony for 7-inch TFT-LCD panels, with shipments to begin 3Q04. CPT will ship about 100K 7-inch panels/month beginning July.

Panasonic DSC
Rumors in Taiwan say that Panasonic has ordered DSC's from Ability Enterprise - 6 MP cameras with MPEG4. Ability has denied the reports and said that its Japanese customer is Casio. ??

COMPANY NEWS AND MARKET TRENDS

TSMC
TSMC is looking forward to stroing growth, with global semicon industrty forecast to grow 30% in 2004, based on strong demand from digital consumer products.

AUO
AUO plans to expand its 6G fab capacity from 90K-150K substrates/month, with mass production to begin 1Q05.

Premier
Premier is Taiwan's leading DSC camera in terms of R&D capability. It's the only TW firm that produces 6MP products. It also expects to ship 6.5M DSC in 2004.

D-Link
D-Link continues to enjoy the windfall of Cisco's acquisition of Linksys. It's #1 global market share has been further solidified, particularly in the SOHO market. D-Link is strong not only in N. America, but in markets such as russia, South America, China, and Europe.

Quanta
Although we're not aware of any new big Computex orders, Quanta expects to 3Q NB shipments to reach 3.25M, up 20-30% QoQ.

Quanta
Quanta shipped 2.3M NB in 1Q04 and expects to ship 2.5M in 2Q. The company is guiding for 3Q shipments to reach 3.25M for a 2004 target of 11M units. HP orders are a major growth driver.

MSI
MSI MB shipments dropped to 900K pieces in May, the lowest among the four TW first-tier MB makers.

Hon Hai
Hon Hai's new PC shipment forecast is 60M+ for 2004. Hon Hai is also demonstrating new Foxconn brand MB at Computex as we write. Also at the booth: new desktop with Intel BTX MB, barebones, coolers, TFT-LCD modules, etc...

D-Link
D-Link now has a 19.4% global SOHO market share, exceeding Linksys and Netgear. When Cisco acquired Linksys, the company lost market share to D-Link.

MSI
MSI has lowered its 2004 MB shipment forecast from 17.25M units to 16M units. The competition from TW MB makers and MSI's efforts to diversify its product lines has lead to the decline. Source: Digitimes.

Chicony
Chicony is hoping that its plans to merge with Minton Optical and its investment in Skanhex Technology will catapult it to the top 3 in Taiwan's DSC OEM.

Taiwan Green Point
TGP is launching an automotive components business through a JV with Gaudlitz Germany.

Sampo LCD monitor
In a change of the usual pattern, a Taiwanese company -Sampo - has ordered LCD panels from a Japanese company - Sharp. This is the first time Sharp has sold its panels to another company. Sampo will also purchase 32-inch LCD TV panels from Sharp soon.

DRAM spot price down
Demand in the spot market is slowing, with inventory at DRAM companies up to 3-4 weeks and the spot price at US$4.76.

DSC news: CMOS shortages
Supply of 5MP CMOS image sensors is tight and will not meet demand until 3Q04. This means that market prices for 5MP cameras won't decline until 4Q04 or 1Q05.

DBTel and BenQ in Thailand
The two companies are aggressively marketing their branded cell phones in Thailand and growing in popularity. DBTel is now the #5 brand in both Taiwan and Thailand and is strong in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia too.

SOLD!! TO TAIWAN..

Pixtel Communications (Canada)...
... has licensed its wireless technology to MediaTeck. Pixtel is the developer of man-machine interface (MMI) technology for wireless devices and Internet based mobile communication and information products. MediaTek apparently acquired the technology for US$9.1M.