Acer Inc (
Acer hopes to become a worldwide powerhouse in information technology services, software and sales of its brand-name products, including personal computers, notebook PCs, personal digital assistants and other computer-related products.
"Acer operations have just become too big and too complex," chairman Stan Shih (
The company also manufactures personal computers and notebook PCs for multinationals such as International Business Machines Corp (IBM). Acer products compete with its own customers, often creating friction.
In response, Acer has separated the contract manufacturing arm of the company into a separate business unit called Wistron. Acer plans to sell off over half its stake in Wistron this year. It plans to lower its total holding in Wistron to around 30 percent by the end of 2003.
Acer has already shifted some notebook-PC orders from Wistron to Compal Electronics Inc (
The company expects sales to reach NT$101 billion this year, up by around 30 percent year on year and putting it in the same league as other top contract manufacturers in Taiwan, such as Quanta Computer Inc (
Wistron expects that new orders from companies such as Dell Computer Corp (for computer parts) and Microsoft Inc (for Xbox game consoles) will replace orders that formerly came from Acer.
Including subsidiary companies, executives at Wistron said the group could see sales as high as NT$120 billion to NT$130 billion. AOpen Inc, Wistron Newave Corp, Wistron Nexus Inc, Anextek Global Inc, Wistron Software Corp (宏創) and Playcoo Corp are all members of the Wistron group of companies.
Last year, Wistron had net sales of NT$74.8 billion (US$2.2 billion), while the Wistron Group had combined sales of NT$96 billion, according to the company.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities