Motherboards For Optimal HP OperationThe global sales of motherboards in the third quarter of the year are expected to post a robust double-digit annual growth of 18.4 percent to hit over 40 million units, compared to a mere 2.7 percent increase seen in the second quarter, the Market Intelligence Center (MIC) under the Institute for Information Industry (III) forecast . MIC officials said that global sales of motherboards reached 33 million units in the second quarter, edging up only 2.7 percent from a year earlier due to weak buying sentiment among end users amid the off season. HP laptop motherboards command a significant share of the global motherboard market. But motherboard sales are likely to rally significantly in the third quarter of the year, as both Intel and AMD will cut their prices for CPUs (central processing units), which will, in turn, stimulate the buying willingness of consumers. HP laptop motherboards are generally considered robust for their configuration. However, few models of HP Pavilion laptop have been criticized as having faulty power jacks, which separate from the motherboard under normal use In addition, the fact that students will return to schools in September after a long summer vacation will fuel demand for more personal computers and relevant information technology products, and will, in turn, stimulate market demand for motherboards. MIC officials forecast the annual global shipments of motherboards to hit 155 million units, for an annual growth of 6 percent. The overall annual growth is mainly dragged down by the much-lower-than-expected growth of 2,7 percent in the second quarter of the year, the officials explained. On another front, MIC predicted Taiwan's shipments of notebook computers in the third quarter of the year to grow 18.9 percent from the second quarter to hit 16.18 million units, which will represent an annual rise of up to 21.2 percent. MIC officials said that the inventories held by major international notebook PC brands such as HP and Dell of the U.S. are gradually decreasing, and they would step up outsourcing notebook PCs from their contract suppliers in Taiwan. The officials said that major notebook PC suppliers in Taiwan, including Quanta Computer, Inventec Corp., Arima Computer Corp., Clevo Computer Co., and Wistron Corp. are all expected to post significant revenue growth in the third quarter. They said new notebook PC models are expected to be delivered in August to cash in on the booming demand for notebook PCs by students after they return to school at the end of the summer vacation. Accordingly, Quanta expected sales growth of up to 29 percent in the third quarter, Compal 30 percent, Wistron 25 percent and Inventec 11 percent. As to Clevo, the firm has gradually shifted its production and sales focus to mainland China. The firm has successfully set up 10 "Buynow" sales outlets around the mainland. It will establish a flagship outlet in Guangzhou. |