PC prices in Taiwan expected to rise 25-30% in Q2: Asustek

Taipei, March 24 (CNA) PC prices in Taiwan are expected to rise 25-30 percent sequentially in the second quarter of 2026 due to a spike in the cost of components, especially memory chips, according to leading PC brand Asustek Computer Inc.

Speaking with reporters on Monday, Jose Liao (廖逸翔), head of Asus Technology Inc.'s systems division, said PC brands faced higher costs in the first quarter, and they will escalate in the second quarter due to a global supply shortage of dynamic random access memory chips (DRAM) and solid state drive (SSD) hard disks.

A 32GB memory chip, for example, cost about NT$3,000 (US$93.75) last year, but that could rise to almost NT$20,000 in the second quarter due to strong demand for memory chips by AI products, according to Liao.

CPUs supplied by Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. are also in short supply, driving prices even higher, Liao said.

According to a recent Economic Daily News report, retail prices for PCs sold by leading brands, including Asustek, rose 10-15 percent in the first quarter.

Liao said PC brands will have to take on the challenges posed by higher production costs, and noted that his company is planning to raise PC prices by no less than 25-30 percent in the second quarter.

He said Asustek was now focused on taking short-term orders, for delivery within a quarter, to avoid possible risks posted by wild fluctuations in component prices.

On the positive side, Liao said, higher product prices in Taiwan have not yet hurt demand, as many consumers look to get ahead of potentially higher prices later in the year.

He said Asustek is likely to see its PC shipments grow about 10 percent from a year earlier in the first half of 2026.

According to Liao, Asustek's average selling price (ASP) in the first quarter rose about 15 percent from a quarter earlier and is expected to grow 30 percent for 2026 as a whole.

Liao made the comments on the sidelines of an event where Asustek unveiled its latest ASUS Zenbook A16 notebook computer, which is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite processer to provide 80 Trillions of Operations Per Second (TOPS) in AI computing.