TAIPEI, TAIWAN: Vendors of front projectors are experiencing a shortage of chips, especially DLP chips made by Texas Instruments (TI).

Companies in the industry expect the shortage of chips to last till the end of 2009, amidst heavy demand that began in the second quarter of 2009.

Hank Horng, president of BenQ China, has indicated that shortage of chips has adversely affected his company’s shipments. The company’s projector shipments in China in the third quarter of 2009, according to Hank Horng, remained at the second-quarter level of around 26,000 units.

BenQ’s projector shipments in China were 3,000 units short of demand in September 2009; and 5,000 units short of demand in the Asia-Pacific region as a result of the dearth of chips.

But, BenQ said it still expects growth in projector shipments in China in the fourth quarter of 2009 because of seasonal demand, and is aiming to ship 30,000 units in the quarter.

Qisda, maker of projectors and the parent company of BenQ, said in a statement that shortage of chips was mainly the consequence of the suppliers’ conservative estimation of the market at the start of 2009. The company says the scarcity is likely to continue till the end of 2009.

Coretronic Corporation, based in Taiwan, said in a press release that its shipments of projectors for the third quarter of 2009 rose by 29 per cent sequentially to 253,000 units. At the same time, the scarcity of chips and the global economic recession resulted in a drop in shipments by over 30 per cent on-year.