IEK Issues Bright Forecast for Taiwan's Electronic Component Industry in 2010

Taipei, May 21, 2010 (CENS)--Taiwan's electronic-component industry will experience a bright year in 2010, with its revenue forecast to grow 24.07% from last year to NT$797.1 billion (US$24.9 billion at US$1:NT$32) this year, according to Industrial Economic and Knowledge Center (IEK) of the government-backed Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).

The center estimated the island's electronic-component industry would recover extensively this year from the global financial crisis. Based on the bright outlook, the center projected the Taiwan industry to turn out total revenue of NT$219.7 billion (US$6.8 billion) in the second quarter, compared with NT$208.3 billion (US$6.5 billion) of the second quarter.

The center pointed out that mainland China's labor shortage last quarter did not take serious toll on Taiwanese electronic-component manufacturers operating in the mainland. It added that the hiking raw-material prices would first eat into profits of Taiwanese electronics assemblers this quarter rather than that of component manufacturers.

Taiwan's electronic-component industry is mostly composed of compound semiconductor device, passive component, print circuit board (PCB), connector, and energy component sectors.

For the island's compound-semiconductor sector, the revenue for the first quarter was NT$18.8 billion (US$587 million), soaring 91% from the same quarter of last year. The center ascribed the tremendous growth mostly to strong LED demands for lighting and TV backlight applications.

Taiwan's passive component sector had revenue of NT$31.8 billion (US$995 million), up 2.46% from a quarter earlier and 50.08% from a year earlier. The center ascribed the revenue growth mostly to seven factors including replacements of older PCs for Windows 7 PCs, substituting digital TVs for analog TVs, rollouts of iPad and iPhone 4G smartphones, mainland China's enlarging coverage of subsidized household appliance items that rural consumers buy, and growing penetration of smartphones in emerging economies including mainland China.

Taiwan's PCB industrial sector had revenue totaling NT$103.9 billion (US$3.2 billion) in the first quarter, increasing 2.86% from a quarter earlier and 165.1% from a year earlier. The center owed the growth to rising demands for electronic books and tablet PCs in mainland China.

Taiwan's connector industry sector turned out total revenue of NT$36.7 billion (US$1.1 billion) in the first quarter, a gain of 4.28% from a quarter earlier and 35.02% from a year earlier. For the island's energy-device industry, the revenue for the first quarter was NT$16.8 billion (US$525 million), increasing 15% from the same quarter last year whereas losing 11% from a quarter earlier.