The value of Taiwan’s cloud computing services market is expected to reach NT$5.56 billion (US$172 million) this year, up 12.8 percent from last year, and to hit NT$6.21 billion next year, a market research institute said yesterday.
Infrastructure as a Service, which provides co-location and security operation center services, will occupy the bulk of the cloud computing market for this year, with a value of NT$5.07 billion, the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC, 產業情報研究所) said.
Meanwhile, Software as a Service, which provides online software solutions such as Salesforce.com CRM and Cisco WebEx, will account for NT$487 million of the cloud computing market this year, MIC said.
Lin Hsin-heng (林信亨), an industry analyst at MIC, said that nearly 35 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan use cloud computing services.
Citing the results of an MIC survey that was conducted between November last year and January, Lin said most SMEs use cloud computing because of its flexibile deployment and low investment risks.
Lin said that companies with fewer information technology engineers tend to employ more cloud computing services.
Cloud computing is a Web-enabled software solution that uses the Internet as a platform for performing tasks on the computer and delivers a range of inter-operable applications. It allows clients who have no knowledge of or expertise in technology infrastructure to complete common business applications online that are accessed from a Web browser.
On Monday, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan’s leading technology research institute, said the government should help small industries with cloud computing to lower costs and promote their products to the world.
ITRI president Johnsee Lee (李鍾熙) said at a venture capital forum that with the trend toward innovative technology growing stronger after the global financial crisis, low-priced products, Internet services and other innovative technologies have become the focus of markets.
Lee said that developing such innovative technologies requires government help, citing Taiwan’s solar energy industry as a good example of achieving a sizable application environment and a complete supply chain with government support.
Upbeat about the business opportunities arising from innovative technology, Lee said low-priced innovative products, such as netbooks, mobile phones, and India’s Tata Nano cars, have become the focus of markets, as well as Internet services like Facebook, online shopping and cloud computing.
As consumers now care more about price, efficiency and energy saving, the changing pattern of consumption and falling demand will force the restructuring of value chains of various industries, a trend suppliers in such value chains should be aware of, Lee said.
INVESTMENT: Jun Seki, chief strategy officer for Hon Hai’s EV arm, and his team are currently in talks in France with Renault, Nissan’s 36 percent shareholder Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the iPhone maker known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally, is in talks with Nissan Motor Co’s biggest shareholder Renault SA about its willingness to sell its shares in the Japanese automaker, the Central News Agency (CNA) said, citing people it did not identify. Nissan and fellow Japanese automaker, Honda Motor Co, are exploring a merger that would create a rival to Toyota Motor Corp in Japan and better position the combined company to face competitive challenges around the world, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. However, one potential spanner in the works is
SEMICONDUCTORS: Samsung and Texas Instruments would receive US$4.75 billion and US$1.6 billion respectively to build one chip factory in Utah and two in Texas Samsung Electronics Co and Texas Instruments Inc completed final agreements to get billions of US dollars of government support for new semiconductor plants in the US, cementing a major piece of US President Joe Biden administration’s CHIPS and Science Act initiative. Under binding agreements unveiled Friday, Samsung would get as much as US$4.75 billion in funding, while Texas Instruments stands to receive US$1.6 billion — money that would help them build facilities in Texas and Utah. The final deals mean the chipmakers can begin collecting the funding when their projects hit certain benchmarks. Though the terms of Texas Instruments’ final agreement is
Call it an antidote to fast fashion: Japanese jeans hand-dyed with natural indigo and weaved on a clackety vintage loom, then sold at a premium to global denim connoisseurs. Unlike their mass-produced cousins, the tough garments crafted at the small Momotaro Jeans factory in southwest Japan are designed to be worn for decades, and come with a lifetime repair warranty. On site, Yoshiharu Okamoto gently dips cotton strings into a tub of deep blue liquid, which stains his hands and nails as he repeats the process. The cotton is imported from Zimbabwe, but the natural indigo they use is harvested in Japan —
Japan ramped up its warnings against currency speculation on Friday after the yen slid to a five-month low following a hint from the central bank chief that he might wait longer than expected before raising interest rates. “The government’s deeply concerned about recent currency moves, including those driven by speculators,” Japanese Minister of Finance Katsunobu Kato said. “We will take appropriate action if there are excessive moves in the currency market.” The yen regained some ground against the dollar after Kato’s remarks, strengthening to as much as ￥156.89 after earlier weakening to ￥157.93. The Japanese currency strengthened a little further after currency
RSS