Demand for first-tier NB manufactures continues

Microsoft Vista will bring a new demand for computer replacements,
particularly in the notebook PC segment, where it is estimated that the shipment
of NB can reach 2.21 million units in Q4 with a growth of 15.7 percent according
to the latest report from DRAMeXchange. However, mostly the first-tier NB
manufactures will benefit while the second or third-tier will continue to face
depleting orders as the market saturation has slowed down consumer's demand.
The NB shipment in Q3 was 1.91 million units with growth of 17.8 percent over
Q2. In Europe, the demand for NBs is still strong. Acer NB sales were increasing
in Europe which also brought positive growth to related OEM partners.

In terms of component supply, CPU, battery, panel, and DRAM all
influence NB assemblers to ship the products on time. Therefore, the shortage of
key components supply will slow down the growth rate of Q4 at 15.7 percent.
Taiwan first-tier NB manufacturers including Quanta, Compal, Inventec and
Wistron all show a positive forecast of Q4. Quanta plans to reach a shipment
goal of Q4 at six million units. Asus also accounts for a growth of 35 percent
in shipment at 1.5 million units in Q4. On the contrary, Arima, a second-tier NB
manufacturer in Taiwan, did face a decline in revenue under the influence of
micro-profit.