(Japanese Site)
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| Global Price War Hurts Taiwan PC Makers
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June 15, 1998 (TAIPEI) -- Taiwan personal computer
manufacturers have been hit hard by the slump in the
global market, information industry statistics indicate.
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Most local PC makers have reduced prices by an average of
10 to 15 percent this month as part of efforts to
stimulate market demand and meet Intel Corp.'s latest
reduction in central processing unit (CPU) prices.
Leo Systems Inc. and Acer Sertek Inc., which have
introduced their own brands of notebook and desktop
computers, both saw revenues fall below projection for the
first four months of this year.
While sales of the former grew 20 percent in the period,
this level was still 20 percent below the company's target
projection.
Acer Sertek reported PC sales of 35,000 units from January
to April, down eight to nine percent year-on-year. In
terms of value, sales were down by an even greater
percent, because of the drop in product prices over the
past year.
Yet despite this, the company still aims to be the leader
in Taiwan's notebook, desktop, and server markets, and it
is slashing prices in an effort to realize this goal.
Acer Sertek has cut its notebook prices by an average of
15 percent. Specifically, Pentium II 233-supported
notebooks are selling for NT$89,500, significantly below
the average price of NT$100,000.
The company is also offering a low-end product equipped
with a Pentium 150 MMX CPU, 16MB memory, a 2.1GB hard disk
drive and an 11.3-in. DSTN LCD screen for only NT$35,500.
In the area of desktops, both Acer Sertek and Leo have cut
the prices of their Pentium 233 MMX models by a large
margin. Industry observers attribute this largely to the
fact that Intel still has a large number of these CPUs in
stock and has cut the unit price down from US$150 to just
over US$90 in an effort to boost sales.
Acer Sertek and Leo have set the prices of their Celeron
266 models at NT$38,000 and NT$34,900, respectively. Both
machines come with a 15-in. monitor and 32x CD-ROM drive.
(Commercial Times, Taiwan)
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