Implementing support vector regression with differential evolution to forecast motherboard shipments

In this study, we investigate the forecasting accuracy of motherboard shipments from Taiwan manufacturers. A generalized Bass diffusion model with external variables can provide better forecasting performance. We present a hybrid particle swarm optimization (HPSO) algorithm to improve the parameter estimates of the generalized Bass diffusion model. A support vector regression (SVR) model was recently used successfully to solve forecasting problems. We propose an SVR model with a differential evolution (DE) algorithm to improve forecasting accuracy. We compare our proposed model with the Bass diffusion and generalized Bass diffusion models. The SVR model with a DE algorithm outperforms the other models on both model fit and forecasting accuracy. 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.