Skip the navigation

Intel chip set shortage hurts PC industry, but expected to clear soon

New supplies due in October

By Dan Nystedt
September 21, 2005 12:00 PM ET

IDG News Service - TAIPEI -- A shortage of Intel Corp. chip sets has crimped PC sales during the third quarter, but more chip sets from other suppliers should ease the shortfall in October, the world's largest maker of computer motherboards said today.
On the surface, however, it might be hard to see the pain. PC sales have been far stronger than expected in the third quarter, causing market researchers such as Gartner Inc. and IDC to revise upward their full-year PC growth forecasts. But third-quarter sales could have been even better had the chip set shortage been avoided, said Sunny Han, director of marketing at Asustek Computer Inc. in Hsinchu, Taiwan.
Over the past few months, Asustek has been unable to fulfill all of its orders due to the chip set shortage. The company could have sold 10% to 15% more motherboards in each of the past few months if it had been able to secure enough chip sets, Han said.
"There has been a serious shortage of chip sets this quarter, but it should clear up in October," Han said. It takes several weeks to finish production of a chip set, meaning output increases can take some time to actually reach the market. This year has been especially hard because brisk demand for a number of electronics goods has kept chip factories humming, with little excess production left over for the chip set emergency.
In August, Intel said stronger-than-expected PC demand had forced it to reduce production of certain kinds of chip sets because its factories were already full of orders for higher-margin products. The manufacturer has been battling to keep up with chip set demand for much of the year.
Chip sets regulate the flow of data between the CPU and other chips inside a PC, such as memory and graphics. They fit onto computer motherboards, a circuit board that holds and connects most of the vital chips and components inside a PC.
Since Asustek supplies almost 40% of the world's motherboards, it has a unique view of the PC industry and the component supply situation and can see which chips are hot sellers.
Representatives from a handful of Taiwanese motherboard makers confirmed that the Intel chip set shortage has been particularly good for Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
"It's a shortage of Intel chip sets; AMD has been fine," said one Taiwanese motherboard executive, speaking on condition of anonymity. "A lot of distributors have been suggesting to their customers that they use AMD because there's no shortage of AMD components."
Arepresentative for Taiwanese chip set maker Silicon Integrated Systems Corp. (SiS) confirmed that the company's production schedule should ensure better output of Intel-compatible chip sets soon.
"We can say with assurance that most of the demand in October will be satisfied, but we can't say we'll meet all orders," said Jessie Lee, a spokeswoman for SiS in Taipei.
PC vendors are enjoying a better-than-expected year, thanks in part to strong demand in Europe and Asia, according to revised market statistics released Monday by researcher IDC.
PC vendors could ship 204.6 million units this year, a 14.1% improvement over 2004 shipment totals, according to IDC's new forecast. Earlier in the year, IDC was predicting global PC shipment growth of 11.4% this year, down sharply from a banner 2004, when growth reached 15.3%.

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2010 International Data Group. All rights reserved.
Additional Resources
Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World
WHITE PAPER
Solving application issues over the WAN requires careful consideration. Based on their independent research, Forrester Consulting offers recommendations on how to tackle application performance issues, insufficient bandwidth and the inability to quickly restore users in a disaster.

Read now.

Security KnowledgeVault
WHITE PAPER
Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All
WHITE PAPER
New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

PCs White Papers
Overcome Top 7 Admin Challenges of Active Directory
As Active Directory's role in the enterprise has drastically increased, so has the need to secure the data. Gain insight on creating repeatable,...
Insiders Can Ruin Your Company. Take Action.
Did you know that 80 percent of threats to an organization come from the inside? The threat from insiders is often overlooked in...
Top Solutions and Tools to Prevent Devastating Malware
Custom malware frequently goes undetected. According to Forrester Research, the best way to reduce risk of breach is to deploy file integrity monitoring...
Streamline Compliance and Increase ROI
Streamline, simplify, and automate compliance related activities; especially those that impact multiple business units. This white paper from NetIQ, outlines solutions that will...
X-Ray of the PCI Process-4 Proactive Steps
This white paper from Forrester Research Inc., helps break PCI into understandable components. Security and risk professionals will gain knowledge and insight into...
All PCs White Papers
PCs Webcasts
Optimizing Networks for the Cloud
Join guest speaker, Rohit Mehra, IDC Director of Enterprise Communications Infrastructure, to explore current trends, discuss best practices for optimizing Data Center and...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 2: Designing and Deploying SQL Server on VMware vSphere
Download this webcast to learn about the design considerations for virtualizing SQL workloads, performance and scalability information and high-availability options, as well as...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 1: Designing and Deploying Exchange 2010 on VMware vSphere
Download this webcast to learn the virtual hardware design considerations for Exchange 2010, deployment using the building block approach, options for high-availability and...
Customer Spotlight: How IPC The Hospitalist Company Implemented Oracle on VMware
Have you been looking to hear about customer's experiences with the new VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager product? View this webcast to learn...
Virtualize Business-Critical Applications with Confidence
Virtualizing business-critical applications has become a key focus for organizations as they move along their virtualization journey. With the launch of VMware vSphere®...
All PCs Webcasts
Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter
  1. View all newsletters | Privacy Policy
IT Jobs