Business

Saturday March 7, 2009

AMD Malaysia balances out inventories amid slower demand

By SHANNEN WONG


CHIPMAKER Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Malaysia’s main challenge this year is to balance out its stock inventories to ensure there is no oversupply amid weakening demand for electronics products, says managing director Datuk Mohd Sofi Osman.

“Our inventory level is very competitive amid the uncertainty in the current economy. We try to keep our inventory low,” he tells StarBizWeek, adding that it’s difficult to forecast when the electronics market will recover.

“We will not know. It’s very hard to tell as the economy and market is very uncertain now,” he says.

Year-to-date, the company has seen flat growth compared with the same period last year, Sofi told a press conference to announce CyberFusion 2009 @ Cyberjaya yesterday.

To be held from Apr 10-12, CyberFusion 2009 @ Cyberjaya is the administrative capital’s first ever local area network party. Jointly organised by AMD, Cyberview Sdn Bhd, the three-day event is expected to attract more than 1,000 personal computer gamers from all over Asia.

AMD senior vice-president of global operations John Docherty says customers are now replenishing stocks for shorter term (of weeks) compared with longer term (of months) previously.

“We have got to be ready when customers see a quick opportunity and we are very quick to react.

“We’ve got premier customers that we absolutely want to take care of and must take care of. We keep the right inventory for them and manage that very closely with them,” he says.

Docherty points out that AMD’s stock inventory level varies with customers and products.

“We are very careful in managing our inventory profiling and remain cautious but reasonably optimistic on the outlook of the industry.

“We expect the second half to be better but we don’t know the quantum. Like everyone else, we are anxious and watching the market to determine our next steps,” he says.

Docherty says the company typically keeps finished goods for a number of weeks.

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