Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), the world's largest motherboard maker, is tapping into the market for budget notebook PCs with a slew of products scheduled for launch in the second half of the year.
"Tech giants such as Intel Corp don't want to miss out on the potential of the budget PC segment, and we are working with [Intel] to tap into the market," confirmed an Asustek official, who requested anonymity, in a telephone interview yesterday.
He was responding to a report that came out yesterday in the Chinese-language Commercial Times, which said Asustek would introduce a series of low-priced PCs based on Intel's Classmate PC platform in the second half of the year.
Joining hands with Intel offers Asustek the chance to move into a new segment, while beefing up its economies of scale in computer production, the official said.
Details of these budget laptops, including channels and distribution, still need to be ironed out, but they would not be Asustek's main product line, he added.
According to the Commercial Times report, the five budget laptop models would be priced from US$199 to US$549.
They will employ Intel's Solid State Disk with flash memory from 1 gigabyte to 40 gigabytes, instead of the standard mechanical hard drive, the report said.
The 7-inch panels for the notebook computers will be sourced from AU Optronics Corp (
"Although profit margins for these low-end PCs will not be as good as its other notebook computer series, Asustek will immediately benefit from the scale," Daniel Chang (
Asustek's component costs could also drop as its sourcing expands with the additional volume from these budget laptops, he said.
"Asustek's technology strength will help it penetrate various PC segments ... Its global notebook market share will continue to rise at a fast rate," Chang said.
Asustek will be competing against Quanta Computer Inc (
Quanta is the sole manufacturer of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a project initiated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to distribute computers to children in developing countries.
Using the Linux operating system and low-cost materials, these notebook computers, priced at US$150 a unit, will come onstream later this year.
Quanta has said it aims to deliver more than 10 million OLPCs within the first 12 months.
However, Merrill Lynch cautioned last month that while the OLPC business model might be viable in its initial stage, users would face problems when they need maintenance help, software debugging, updates or help in handling viruses.
Shares of Asustek edged up 1.5 percent to NT$79.8 (US$2.41) on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday, while shares of Quanta dropped 0.6 percent to NT$50.7.
CHIP WAR: Tariffs on Taiwanese chips would prompt companies to move their factories, but not necessarily to the US, unleashing a ‘global cross-sector tariff war’ US President Donald Trump would “shoot himself in the foot” if he follows through on his recent pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese and other foreign semiconductors entering the US, analysts said. Trump’s plans to raise tariffs on chips manufactured in Taiwan to as high as 100 percent would backfire, macroeconomist Henry Wu (吳嘉隆) said. He would “shoot himself in the foot,” Wu said on Saturday, as such economic measures would lead Taiwanese chip suppliers to pass on additional costs to their US clients and consumers, and ultimately cause another wave of inflation. Trump has claimed that Taiwan took up to
A start-up in Mexico is trying to help get a handle on one coastal city’s plastic waste problem by converting it into gasoline, diesel and other fuels. With less than 10 percent of the world’s plastics being recycled, Petgas’ idea is that rather than letting discarded plastic become waste, it can become productive again as fuel. Petgas developed a machine in the port city of Boca del Rio that uses pyrolysis, a thermodynamic process that heats plastics in the absence of oxygen, breaking it down to produce gasoline, diesel, kerosene, paraffin and coke. Petgas chief technology officer Carlos Parraguirre Diaz said that in
Japan intends to closely monitor the impact on its currency of US President Donald Trump’s new tariffs and is worried about the international fallout from the trade imposts, Japanese Minister of Finance Katsunobu Kato said. “We need to carefully see how the exchange rate and other factors will be affected and what form US monetary policy will take in the future,” Kato said yesterday in an interview with Fuji Television. Japan is very concerned about how the tariffs might impact the global economy, he added. Kato spoke as nations and firms brace for potential repercussions after Trump unleashed the first salvo of
SUPPORT: The government said it would help firms deal with supply disruptions, after Trump signed orders imposing tariffs of 25 percent on imports from Canada and Mexico The government pledged to help companies with operations in Mexico, such as iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), shift production lines and investment if needed to deal with higher US tariffs. The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday announced measures to help local firms cope with the US tariff increases on Canada, Mexico, China and other potential areas. The ministry said that it would establish an investment and trade service center in the US to help Taiwanese firms assess the investment environment in different US states, plan supply chain relocation strategies and
RSS