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  • Global Price War Hurts Taiwan PC Makers
  • June 15, 1998 (TAIPEI) -- Taiwan personal computer manufacturers have been hit hard by the slump in the global market, information industry statistics indicate.
    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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    Updated: Sun Jun 14 12:54:49 1998