Mainly thanks to simmering market demand for new PCs running on Windows 8,Compal Electronics Inc.and Inventec Corp.,two of Taiwan's largest laptop contract manufacturers,both saw their revenue surge in November from October.
Compal reported combined revenue of NT$63.35 billion for November,representing a 5.2%increase over October,or 6%from a year earlier,and notebook PC shipment of 3.7-3.8 million units,for a 7%monthly growth.For the first 11 months of the year the firm's aggregate revenue totaled NT$622 billion,down 2.7%from a year ago.
After finishing October and November with accumulative revenue of NT$123.535 billion,Compal is very likely to attain a 5%growth in revenue for the fourth quarter of this year,compared to a quarter ago.But,affected by a persistently slack market for PCs,the firm,which shipped 35.5-35.6 million units as of the end of November,may fall short of its annual shipment goal of 40.5 million units for the whole year.
In the meantime,Inventec scored sales revenue of NT$29.556 billion,slightly up,for the third consecutive year,3.3%from NT$28.599 billion posted in October,or 15.63%compared to a year ago,with accumulative laptop shipment of about 15.1 million units for the past 11 months of 2012.
Robust revenues by the two abovementioned notebook PC bode well for the PC industry in the face of a sluggish global market,and enhances insiders'optimism about hopes of recovery pinned on the launch of Windows 8.Institutional investors said that Windows 8 may not be able to trigger consumer demand for new PC replacements as significantly as its early editions did in the past,but still has its potential to sustain a weak PC market.
