Compaq: ‘20 per cent price cuts across the board’

Eckhard Pfeiffer's sudden removal has thrown a spanner in the works of the Taiwanese computer sector, according to EuroTrade. Following his departure (see Pfeiffer ousted in Compaq shakeup), Compaq is "poised to implement an average of 20 per cent price cuts across the board". We think Eurotrade is referring only to desktop PCs. Local manufacturers in Taiwan and in Red China have been doing very well on the mainland at market leader Compaq's expense, according to the magazine, which reports that Compaq's new Taiwanese "manufacturing and assembly operations have been almost at a standstill" since the beginning of the year. Taiwanese players are now revising their second-half sales forecasts, in preparation for a Compaq-led price war in the region. Still, local components suppliers stand to gain, whichever way it pans out -- they supply billions of dollars of parts a year to Compaq. ® The Eurotrade story in full