Thai floods push PC prices up

Computer prices are set to rise following warnings by Acer and Samsung Electronics that severe flooding in Thailand would hit production and that they would pass resulting higher costs on to consumers, writes FT.com.

The comments are the most serious indication from technology groups that Thailand's worst flooding in half a century, which has claimed hundreds of lives, will disrupt the global supply chain just ahead of the busy end-of-year season.

According to Reuters, Taiwan's Acer expects fourth quarter sales to fall as much as 10% from the previous three months and will raise prices as flooding in Thailand disrupts supplies of hard disk drives for PCs.

The company told an investor conference on Friday that it hopes to see some improvement in the supply of hard disks in the first quarter of next year, but added that with prices for disks rising up to 20%, it needs to take action.

Fox Business notes that Acer does not procure hard disks made in Thailand for its ultra-thin laptops so the supply chain for this segment would not be affected. Sales of ultrabooks, as these laptops are called, will likely increase due to their lower price range of $799 to $899 and may help boost Acer's earnings in the fourth quarter, although the company will likely continue to post a net loss, it said.