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Pfeiffer upbeat on Asia
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March 9, 1999: 12:13 p.m. ET
Region's PC demand up, prospects for e-commerce strong, says CEO
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The prospects for e-commerce in China are strong, the head of Compaq Computer Corp. said Tuesday, also expressing confidence in the Asian computer market overall.
Eckhard Pfeiffer, the computer giant's president and chief executive officer, told CNNfn's "Business Day" he is optimistic about China's entry into Internet retail.
"I believe it is going to happen rapidly… We are seeing a wide open government here in terms of working with us on a large number of e-commerce projects," he said. "We do not see the limitations that you read about from time to time in the world press."
Compaq this week broke new ground by unveiling China's first commercial Web site, an online bookseller formed as a joint venture with the Chinese government. The initiative is considered groundbreaking, as the Chinese government generally favors stringent regulations on the Web.
Pfeiffer, who has been traveling throughout the region to promote e-commerce, was also upbeat about overall computer demand in the Pacific Rim, which he says is "recovering."
"In this part of the world, I see very good demand. I think we're seeing pickup in the classic Asian countries. We see very strong growth predicted here in China," he said. "In Australia, we anticipate growth rates in the range of the high teens."
The CEO shrugged off recent problems between the United States and China regarding alleged spying, stating that was a separate issue.
"I think I can say that these (Internet initiatives) are long-term projects that are not affected by these day-to-day type of activities," Pfeiffer said.
On a separate topic, Pfeiffer said he was generally satisfied with the recent settlement between chip giant Intel Corp. and the Federal Trade Commission.
"We are certainly going along with the decision of the FTC. We do have a long-standing, good relationship with Intel. We are the largest Intel customer and the relationship is important to us. The FTC needs to make the final call here," Pfeiffer said.
The CEO also said he was unconcerned by semiconductor firm AMD's recent announcement that chip demand was weak.
AMD supplies the K6 chip that outfits some Compaq computers.
"AMD has been serving us well in the last two or three years, and it has helped us to break the sub-$1000 and sub-$700 market open. And that has certainly been a major market success for Compaq as well as for AMD," Pfeiffer said. 
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Compaq
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