Taiwanese laptop industry faces CPU shortage

Industry watchers have predicted a shortage of Taiwanese branded notebooks stemming from a shortage of central processing unit (CPU) chipsets for portable computers from Intel. This gap could even extend to over 20 percent, researchers have indicated.

Robust sales of laptops have led to the shortage of CPUs in the fourth quarter of 2004. According to statistics out of Taipei, the global laptop market is estimated to have risen by 17 percent compared to the previous quarter. Over the same period, Taiwan’s notebook market has grown by about 30 percent.

When it comes to secure sustained chipset supply, Taiwanese vendors, including Acer Inc. and Asustek Computer Inc., are at the losing end compared to some of the larger global players. This will have a significant e ffect on their annual shipments, which is expected to fall by about 10 percent. It was reported that Acer had forecasted a shipment of 3.2 million notebooks in 2004, while Asustek’s expectations hovered around 2.8 million units.

Overall, the CPU shortages looks to have a cutting effect on the Taiwanese laptop industry, trimming shipments for 2004 from a previously forecasted figure of 32.4 million to 31 million.

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