02.15.2001
Acer continuing scale down

• Acer (2306 'Hong Dian') yesterday decided to lay off 500 foreign laborers at its Hsin Chu PC assembly plant. At the end of last year, the company axed 1,500 jobs at overseas plants. Acer plans to reduce low-end PC production in Taiwan and move production to China and the Philippines.

• In 2000, revenue fell 18.8% YoY, and was only NT$5.0b in January this year, the lowest monthly figure for the last 3.5 years). Acer has been losing OEM orders and own-brand PCs are failing to make up the difference. The company estimates its own-brand PC business will grow by around 6% YoY in 2001.

• Meanwhile, things are looking up for Taiwan PC maker Mitac (2315 'Shen Da'). 2000 revenues surged 57% YoY thanks to better product mix. The revenue ratio of desk-top PCs has been lowered while shipment of servers and LCD PCs is up. January revenue rose 5% YoY, despite a 5% MoM decline. Reports suggest new orders from Dell (US) for Acer and Mitac are in the offing.

MarthaChen@Primasia.com +886-[0]2-2547-8878