Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday announced plans to spin off its PC gaming accessories and smart devices businesses into a new wholly owned subsidiary to promote innovation and entrepreneurship within the company and to tap into market segments with higher profit margins.
The new unit, tentatively named Gadget Technology Inc (酷碁), would be the new home of Acer’s expansions into premium PC gaming mice and keyboards, headphones, suitcases and chairs, as well as smart devices, such as prayer beads and air quality monitors, Acer spokesperson Wayne Chang (張鉅靈) told a news conference at the Taiwan Stock Exchange in Taipei.
Sales of peripherals and accessories during the first half of this year are estimated at about NT$300 million (US$9.8 million), he said.
Asked whether Acer intends to let Gadget Technology serve as the company’s internal start-up incubator and if it plans to stage an initial public offering for the unit, Chang said that neither option has been ruled out.
Acer, which bundles accessories to promote PC sales, has not yet decided on whether the unit would be billed Gadget Technology after it begins to operate independently as a subsidiary, he said.
The businesses, which were grouped under Acer’s information technology business unit, are valued at about NT$45 million, Chang said, adding that they are scheduled to be spun off on Sept. 14.
NT$75.66 million in assets and NT$30.66 million in liabilities would be transferred to Gadget Technology, he added.
Boosted by strong sales of PC gaming laptops, Acer yesterday reported that net income in the second quarter rose 24.4 percent to NT$881 million, or earnings per share of NT$0.29, its highest level for the April-to-June period in eight years.
Consolidated revenue in the period totaled NT$58.48 billion, up 9.1 percent from a year earlier.
Gross profit was NT$6.43 billion with a margin of 11 percent, while operating income totaled NT$930 million with a margin of 1.6 percent, the company said.
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
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday signed a letter of intent with Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), expressing an interest to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) and invest in the latter’s Alaska LNG project, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. Under the agreement, CPC is to participate in the project’s upstream gas investment to secure stable energy resources for Taiwan, the ministry said. The Alaska LNG project is jointly promoted by AGDC and major developer Glenfarne Group LLC, as Alaska plans to export up to 20 million tonnes of LNG annually from 2031. It involves constructing an 1,290km
NEXT GENERATION: The company also showcased automated machines, including a nursing robot called Nurabot, which is to enter service at a Taichung hospital this year Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) expects server revenue to exceed its iPhone revenue within two years, with the possibility of achieving this goal as early as this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said on Tuesday at Nvidia Corp’s annual technology conference in San Jose, California. AI would be the primary focus this year for the company, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), as rapidly advancing AI applications are driving up demand for AI servers, Liu said. The production and shipment of Nvidia’s GB200 chips and the anticipated launch of GB300 chips in the second half of the year would propel
RSS