14 DAY TRIAL // Taiwanese conglomerate Asustek expects that most of its battery shortage issues to finally fade away by June this year. The company's mobile business was extremely affected by the March fire at the LG Chem battery manufacturing facility, which created a disruption in Dell and HP's notebook shipments.
"Ninety percent of the battery problem should be resolved by June but it could still affect April and May Eee PC sales," said Asustek Chief Executive Jerry Shen, referring to the company's upcoming Eee PC line-up, slated for release on May 12th.
The notebook manufacturer last month announced that it was fighting the global shortage in notebook batteries, and estimated that the LG Chem incident would affect up to 40 percent of its second-quarter shipments. However, the South-Korea battery manufacturer said that the Ochang plant will resume production in two to three months.
"The shortage could affect 30 percent to 40 percent of second quarter shipments, but it looks like a short-term issue," Asustek Vice President Kevin Lin claimed right after LG Chem's battery facility went out of business.
LG Chem is the second biggest South-Korean battery manufacturer that competes with Samsung on the same market. It also ships battery packs to Dell and Hewlett-Packard, among other US-based customers.
According to Shen, Asustek plans to ship 5 million of both its upcoming Eee PC 900 and the existing Eee PC 701 notebooks until the end of the year. The company estimates that the new 8.9-inch units will account for 60 percent of the sold units in the first half of the year.
The battery shortage not only that delayed some of the mobile products to be introduced on the market, but it also forced major manufacturers to cease selling spare or replacement battery packs. Lack of batteries also affected notebook prices, as the PC vendors artificially increased their price tags to fight short supplies.