Posted on Friday, February 22 2008 @ 7:56 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Asus reports shipments of motherboards and graphics cards
are still going up sharply:
With Europe's motherboard demand still rising, Asustek's shipments in February and March are expected to hold at the same level as January. Shipments in the second quarter will be better than the first since Intel will launch new products in March and April, while adjusting the price of existing products, Hsieh predicted. Branded motherboard shipments are expected to reach 24 million units in 2008, a growth of 13% compared to 21.3 million units in 2007.
Regard motherboard ASPs (average selling prices), Hsieh pointed out that entry-level motherboard will not see much difference in 2008, while those in the mid-range and high-end are expected to rise due to increasing costs for WLAN and power components.
Asustek is scheduled to launch a 1-liter desktop PC series in April or May, but stressed it will only target the high-end and entry-level so as not compete with its channel partners over mid-range products.
Asustek forecasts its motherboard shipments in the first quarter this year at 5.5 million units, an increase of 10-15% on year, while graphics card shipments are expected to hit 1.95 million units, an increase of around 5-10% on year. The company's branded notebook shipments will reach 1.3 million units, an increase of 60% on year, while Eee PCs ship around 650,000-700,000 units.
