Aug 30, 2000

Turbo Comm Inc., the largest cable modem manufacturer in Taiwan, confirmed that it secured investment from Toshiba of Japan. Both sides are expected to cooperate for the manufacture of cable modem facilities for the use of operators and ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) products in 2001.

Chen Hon-ju, chairman of Turbo, said that Toshiba decided to strengthen its ties with Turbo, investing about 2% of Turbo's stake initially.

Toshiba will increase its cable modem orders to Turbo to 250,000 and 300,000 units per month beginning next year. Both sides will also develop related cable modem products, ISDN routers, ADSL, and wireless broadband products in the future, Chen said.

Sales of ADSL products, mainly to South Korea Telecom and European clients, will reach between 20,000 and 30,000 units next month, according to Chen.

The firm sold only 400,000 cable modems in the first half due to the shortage of raw materials. It is expected that sales will resume to 690,000 units in the third quarter and climb to 1.2 million units in the fourth quarter, paving the way for total sales of more than two million units in 2000, Chen said.

With increasing market demand, the firm expects its sales of cable modem products will reach between five and six million units in 2001. This figure will grow about 1.5-fold from 2000, Chen added.

Meanwhile, the firm estimates its three-in-one chipsets for cable modems will debut in early of 2001. The firm predicts the price of its I.0 version cable modem will remain unchanged until the end of the year but is likely to drop by 15% to 20% later.