The value of IT hardware products manufactured by Taiwanese companies grew by 10.5 per cent during 2005 to US$77 billion and that growth is expected to continue into 2006, with Taiwanese companies further expanding their dominance of the hardware manufacturing industry, according to Market Intelligence Center (MIC), a market research company in Taipei.
Most of this increase is expected to come from demand for low-cost products and emerging markets, MIC said. While this will lead to greater production volumes for Taiwanese producers, it will also result in price declines, it said.
Taiwanese hardware makers dominate production of many types of IT hardware, including notebook computers and motherboards, most of which are designed and manufactured under contract for multinational vendors, such as Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc. and many others.
In 2005, Taiwanese companies produced 82.4 per cent of the world’s notebooks, and 98.3 per cent of motherboards, MIC said.
The biggest gains expected in 2006 are to come from digital still cameras and notebook PCs, MIC said. The value of these products is expected to rise 26.2 per cent and 17.9 per cent during 2006, respectively, it said. Based on that forecast for 2006, the value of digital still cameras produced by Taiwanese companies will reach US$3.5 billion while the value of notebook PCs will total US$35.8 billion, it said.
MIC said the total value of IT hardware products produced by Taiwanese companies will reach US$85.6 billion, an expected gain of 11.2 per cent.