Dealer Info nummer 10 in pdf formaat.

OEM’s receive
unexpected BD burner
orders from retail in the US
and Europe
While PC brands such as Dell and HP
have placed small-volume orders with
Taiwan OEM/ODM makers for Blu-ray
Disc burners for use in their PCs to be
launched in Q3, these makers have also
received inquiries and orders from large
retail channels in the US and Europe,
with the volumes much higher than
those from the PC brands. As BD
burners are still very expensive,
international brands are adopting them
only for high-end PC models while
DVD has remained as the mainstream.
Therefore, their order volumes of BD
burners are low, typically 2,000-3,000
units for a single order. However,
American and European retail channels
made inquires to Taiwan makers about
OEM/ODM production and some of
them have placed relatively large orders,
as many as 20,000-30,000 units per
order. These channels may plan to
promote sales of BD-burner equipped
PCs during the peak period prior to the
2007 holiday season. Total production
capacity at Taiwan makers is able to
meet order volumes, but will fall short if
the PC brands increase their orders. In
addition, the supply of BD pick-up
heads, a key component, from Japan
may not be able to catch up with the
increased demand from Taiwan makers.
DRAM price up short-lived
The upward DRAM spot price that was
observed during the week of July
30-August 6 is being
short-lived, as evidenced
by weakening
of the price a
week later. Samsung’s
blackout incident
at its fabs in
Korea did spur a
DRAM price up but
the momentum proved to be weak, said
memory-trading firm DRAMeXchange.
Those retailers who still house high levels
of inventory, dumped their stocks,
resulting in a rapid price drop. Despite
the arrival of the traditional PC season
upturn, no improvement is seen in the
end market yet. China, which used to
have buoyant DRAM transactions during
July, is also having slow sales. Yet,
the demand at the spot market has improved
on a sequential basis, though not
strong enough to stimulate consumption.
Asustek starts shipments
of Eee PCs
Asustek Computer will begin shipping
its ultra low-cost notebook, the Eee PC,
to clients in the US, Europe, China as
well as Taiwan, from mid-September,
with the first-round shipments targeting
20,000 units.
In addition to securing orders from the
mentioned countries, Asustek has also
landed orders for its Eee PCs from a
number of education organizations,
insurance companies and
emerging markets.
However, the company is concerned
that the persistent tight
supply of a number of key
components might affect production
in the second half of
the year. The Eee PCs will be
available at $199, $239, $349
and $369 depending on specifications.
The mainstream model
priced at $349 will be mostly
of the first-round
shipments.
Since Eee PCs are similar
to a mini notebooks,
international
market research firms
are reportedly considering
classifying
shipments of Eee PCs
as notebooks, which
could boost Asustek’s
market share as well
as its ranking in the
notebook market.
Shipments of Eee PCs are expected
to top 500,000 in 2007
and increase to 3-5 million in
2008, company chairman Jonney
Shih predicted earlier.
Asustek Computer also launched
its 14.1-inch F8 notebook
series featuring Infusion
technology, which the company
describes as a cutting edge manufacturing
process used to produce the unique
laptop surfaces. The F8 is equipped
with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up
to 2GB of DDR2 memory, DirectX 10
support and a choice of the ATI Mobility
Radeon HD2600 or the Nvidia
GeForce8600M GS. The system is also
equipped with a hybrid TV tuner, which
supports both digital and analog signals.
Describing Infusion technology, Asustek
indicated that design motifs are inlaid
within the chassis itself and will not
fade with time. The surface also provides
a new level of resilience and resists
scratches.
Samsung and module
makers in price battle
Following Samsung Electronics’ blackout
issue early this month, the company
has raised its flash prices by 20%
within a week. This has caused big module
makers to lower their supply from
Samsung. With Samsung unwilling to
lower prices and the lower demand from
its big clients, Samsung is currently turning
to mid-sized and small makers to
sell its surplus. Samsung has raised its
8GB NAND flash price from US$8 to
US$9.50 while competitors Hynix and
Toshiba, are offering prices around
US$8. Therefore, many big module makers
turned to them. The reason Samsung
has been insistent on its pricing is
due to the approaching peak season
which should bring about an increase in
flash demand.However,
some module makers think
that high flash prices have
already limited demand and
that there are other makers
offering prices lower than
Samsung, therefore they
are not willing to accept
the terms Samsung is offering.
ICT
vakhandel
98 31 augustus 2007