Asus to overcome Eee PC battery shortage by June
Reuters
Published: 21 Apr 2008 09:29 BST
Asus said on Monday that it expects most of its battery-shortage problems to be resolved by the end of the second quarter, and maintained its sales target for its popular low-cost subnotebooks.
"Ninety percent of the battery problem should be resolved by June, but it could still affect April and May Eee PC sales," said Asus chief executive Jerry Shen.
Last month, Asus said a global shortage of batteries for computers could affect up to 40 percent of its second-quarter shipments.
A fire in March at LG Chem halted production at the second-biggest South Korean battery maker's Ochang plant, but the company said that it expected the factory to start production again in two to three months.
LG Chem is a major supplier of batteries to Asus and US clients such as Dell and HP, and competes with Samsung SDI.
Asus is maintaining its target of shipping five million Eee PCs this year, Shen said at a news conference launching the new Eee PC, featuring a larger, 8.9-inch screen.
Around 60 percent of Eee PCs to be sold in the second half of 2008 will have 8.9-inch screens, said Shen, whose company sold one million Eee PCs between November and March.
At midday, Asus shares were up 1.9 percent, outpacing the main Taiex share index's 0.2 percent gain.
Asus, also the world's largest motherboard maker, competes with Taiwan's Acer in its own-brand laptop business and with Hon Hai Precision Industry in its original equipment manufacturer units.
With a market value of about $10bn (£5bn), Asus this year separated its branded business from its contract-manufacturing operations, which make laptops for Apple, Dell, HP and Lenovo.
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