 (Nikkei BP Group)
 (No.1 High-Tech News Site in Japanese)
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JEIDA Expects FY99 Computer Hardware Market to Grow 2 Pct.
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December 1, 1998 (TOKYO) -- The Japan Electronic Industry Development
Association projects that shipments of computer hardware, including
peripheral equipment, in fiscal 1999 (starting April 1999) will rise
2 percent on a year-on-year basis.
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Shipments in Japan are expected to reach 6,254 billion yen (US$51 billion),
for a slight increase over 6,124 billion yen (US$49.9 billion), the
projected shipment value for fiscal 1998 (April 1998 through March 1999),
JEIDA said.
Mainframe computer shipments will likely decline 6 percent in fiscal
1999 to about 689 billion yen (US$5.62 billion) from 730 billion yen,
the expected shipment value for fiscal 1998.
Shipments of midrange computers, such as UNIX servers and large-scale
PC servers, will probably increase 5 percent to 783 billion yen (US$6.38
billion).
Workstation shipments will likely fall 20 percent to 188 billion yen
(US$1.5 billion), from 235 billion yen.
Shipments of personal computers will increase 3 percent to 1,710 billion
yen (US$13.9 billion), according to the projection. And shipments of
peripherals will rise 5 percent to 2,884 billion yen (US$23.5 billion),
as compared to an estimate of 2,745 billion yen for fiscal 1998.
Shipments of mainframe computers are expected to decrease in value although
demand for mainframe computers will remain fairly active. This is because
of the decline in demand for replacement units, longer usage periods
of older models, and reduced demand related to the Y2K problem.
The projected lower shipments of workstations is attributed to an expected
decrease in capital investments by manufacturers.
However, shipments of midrange computers are estimated to increase because
the PC server market based on Windows NT will contribute to an expanding
market.
The personal computer market will be sustained by replacement demand
for thinner notebook PCs and space-saving type desktop PCs.
Shipments of peripherals are expected to grow due in part to the increase
in software programs on optical disks such as DVD-RAM/ROM media. Also,
expanding demand for redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) devices
for enterprise systems using PC servers will help boost the market for
peripherals.
"Measures to overcome the sluggish business climate for corporate computers
are dependent on the investments for information systems (in the supplementary
budget) that the Japanese government has worked out," said Taizo Nishimuro,
chairman of JEIDA and president of Toshiba Corp.
Related stories:
Japan's PC Shipments Rise in July-Sept. Period
Japan Workstation Shipments Fall 29 Pct. in First Half 1998
JEIDA Urges Gov't Supplementary Budget of 8 Trillion Yen
(BizTech News Dept.)
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