October 2, 1998 (TOKYO) -- A representative from Taiwan's Market Intelligence Center, part of the Institute for Information Industry, predicted that price cuts will not stop the growth of the island's computer industry. Chen-Pang Lin, director of the MIC and a noted analyst of Taiwan's high-tech industry, was speaking at the end of the Taiwan Information Industry Seminar at World PC Forum 98.

Lin placed strong emphasis on the competitiveness of the Taiwan's computer industry. He told seminar attendees that Taiwan will be able to maintain its extremely high growth in the field of information technology industry, even after the sharp decline in hardware prices.

In the first half of 1998, Taiwan's hardware industry, including PCs, motherboards, and CD-ROM devices, saw growth in both sales and shipments.

Total sales for the region's computer-related products rose 13.3 percent from a year earlier to nearly US$15.4 billion. The industry expects its total sales in fiscal 1998 to increase 10.5 percent from 1997 levels to more than US$33.5 billion, although the sales growth rate may not show much increase because of the decreasing price of hardware products.

Projections for sales growth rate for each product in the year 1998 are 28.4 percent in desktop PCs, 25.8 percent in notebook PCs, 9.8 percent in motherboards, and 34.8 percent in CD-ROM devices. On the other hand, sales of displays and scanners are expected to see a decrease of 12.6 percent and 10.0 percent respectively, in spite of the increase in shipments by 14.7 percent and 62.0 percent.

Lin concluded by stressing the growing power of Taiwan's computer industry. He said that in the midst of falling prices for PC-related products, the strong productivity of Taiwan manufacturers will continue to attract worldwide attention.

(BizTech News Dept.)