Taiwanese computer giant Acer Inc is expected to announce that net income for the current fiscal year will come in much lower than it originally anticipated. When the company – the third- largest OEM PC maker in the world – announces its second-quarter results on Thursday it will cut its earnings forecast for 1998 by more than 30% from the original projection of T$5.5bn ($158.5m). The new figure is believed to on par with last year’s profit of T$3.7bn. Higher-than-expected losses at chip subsidiary Acer Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc are being blamed for the shortfall. Several reports said that losses at the former joint venture with Texas Instruments Inc have exceeded T$3bn, up from an earlier forecast of T$1.2bn, thanks to continued low prices for memory chips. The unit lost T$5bn last year. Acer could not be reached for comment. Meanwhile, Acer Computer International (ACI), one of the larger company’s overseas units, reported a 98% dive in net income to $199,000 on revenue down 22.3% at $335.7m. The subsidiary blamed the Asian economic crisis, increased competition and pricing pressures for the poor results. Figures for ACI were converted at a rate of 1.7685 Singapore dollars to one US dollar.
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