Asustek Computer, citing figures from research firm IDC, pointed out that the company's notebook shipments in China have already surpassed Acer and it has become the second largest player in the market in the third quarter, while its shipments in Europe also exceeded those of Acer in the quarter. However, Acer, citing figures from research firm Gartner, retorted that the company's PC and notebook market shares in EMEA market remained firm and it kept its ranking in China's notebook market, trailing only Lenovo.
Compared to Acer, which still suffers losses, Asustek's consolidated revenues reached NT$102.04 billion (US$3.41 million) in the third quarter, up 42% sequentially, with net profit reaching NT$4.68 billion, up 30% sequentially, and earning per share (EPS) at NT$6.22.
As for the shipments, Asustek shipped 4.3 million notebooks in the third quarter, along with 800,000 tablet PCs, up from 400,000 units in the second, and 1.3 million Eee PCs, up 30% sequentially. With the company's stable performance in China and Europe markets, plus its business in recently entered markets such as Brazil and India will start benefiting the company in 2012, Asustek's goal of becoming the third largest notebook brand vendor in 2012 are expected to be achieved, company CEO Jerry Shen noted.
As for the fourth quarter, Shen pointed out that Thailand's flood, which has seriously impacted the capacity of hard drives, plus falling demand in China will impact the company's motherboard and notebook shipments, causing a slight drop in the company's revenue performance, which market watchers estimate to be at about 5-10%.
Currently, most hard drive makers and PC brand vendors are already in negotiation over quotes for the first quarter of 2012 and the price increase is likely to occur for all the brand vendors, but since a shortage of hard drives will have a stronger impact on desktops than notebooks, Asustek will experience a relatively weaker impact, as the company has a rather lower desktop shipment scale compared with its competitors. According IDC's latest figures, Asustek's notebook and Eee PC shipments reached 5.42 million units in the third quarter, accounting for 9.7% in the global notebook shipments and ranking fifth overall. In China, Asustek's market share reached 14.6%, surpassing Dell and Acer to become the second largest in the market with a sequential shipment growth of 46%, according to the IDC data.
As for other markets, Asustek's shipments in the Asia Pacific market, benefiting from growth in Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey and Australia, ranked as fourth largest with a market share of 10.9%. The company is currently focusing on the India market and aiming to bring its local market share above 10% and surpass Dell at the second largest vendor. Asustek is also aiming to increase its market share in Brazil to 5-10%.
In Europe, after it became the largest brand vendor in Eastern Europe in the second quarter, the company maintained its position in the region in the third quarter with a share of 20.1%, while its shipment gap with Acer in Western Europe was only less than 100,000 units, helping the company to become the second largest vendor in Europe. However, since Asustek still has a shipment gap of 220,000 units with leader Hewlett-Packard (HP), Asustek is also focus on competing in Western Europe in hope to become the largest vendor.
Source:digitimes