Taipei, Aug. 30 (CNA) Taiwan's notebook computer shipments are likely to grow at a faster pace than the world average in 2017 as Taiwanese manufacturers take advantage of their sophisticated production technology to gain orders, a research group said Wednesday.
Taiwan's notebook computer shipments are expected to grow 1.6 percent from a year earlier in 2017, while global shipments could continue to slide and fall 0.5 percent year-on-year, the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC) said at a press conference held to present its report.
Chou Shih-hsiung, a senior advisor to the MIC, said Taiwan still has a technology edge that enables local manufacturing contractors to secure the majority of orders from international brands.
That advantage is expected to help Taiwan record higher shipment growth in overall notebook computer production, but the growth will be slow because demand for consumer models remains slow this year, Chou said.
Taiwan is home to many major contract notebook computer manufacturers, with Quanta Computer Inc. ranking as the largest ODM service provider in the world.
The MIC said that because the global PC industry remains in the doldrums, Taiwan's contract manufacturers have been eager to work with their clients to diversify their product lines and limit the negative impact of the slow PC market.
Among the products they have been working on are wearable devices, industrial computers and even smart automotive devices and medical care items.
As for the global notebook computer market, the MIC report said the expected 0.5 percent year-on-year decline for 2017 would be an improvement on 2016, when shipments fell 4.5 percent.
Global shipments of desktop computers could fall 3.4 percent this year, compared with a decline of 9.1 percent seen last year, the research group said.
The smaller decline expected in both the laptop and desktop segments in 2017 reflects a general boost from a stronger global economic recovery this year and an anticipated increase in replacements of commercial models, the MIC said.
According to the MIC, major notebook computer brands such as U.S.-based HP Inc. and Dell Inc. are expected to see only limited growth in the second half of this year because a relatively high base of comparison over the same period of last year.
