HTC Corp (宏達電), the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones running on Microsoft Inc’s system, said yesterday it had bought US industrial design company One & Company Design Inc for US$4.82 million in cash, aiming to enhance its design capabilities to compete in the global marketplace.
Executives hope the move is a step toward meeting HTC’s goal of becoming a top brand joining players such as Apple Inc and Nokia.
“The combination will bring globally talented people and their ideas to HTC’s design team. That will also bring multi-cultural elements to HTC’s product design,” HTC said in a statement.
One & Co, based in San Francisco, was involved in the design of HTC’s Touch Diamond series in 2006.
The company also helped design a wide range of products including Sony Corp’s first desktop video conferencing system and Microsoft Corp’s media center PC.
HTC will pursue more acquisition opportunities to strengthen its core business, HTC chief executive Peter Chou (周永明) said last month.
The cellphone maker favors companies that fit strategically such as software firms, Chou said. The company had NT$40.61 billion (US$1.2 billion) in cash as of Sept. 30.
Chou said he was confident the company would reach its target of increasing revenues 29 percent this year from last year.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
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US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process
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