Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s biggest telecom, on Monday said that it is to cooperate with Verizon Media to develop 5G immersive content and tap into the “gig economy.”
Verizon Media is the media and online businesses division of Verizon Communications Inc.
The two companies are to jointly develop 5G immersive content such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) videos, Chunghwa Telecom executive vice president Lin Kuo-feng (林國豐) said.
They also plan to create virtual YouTubers (vtubers) and related content, with the aim of exploring new revenue sources, he said.
“We found that Hoodie (虎妮), a vtuber created by Verizon Media’s Yahoo TV, is having a great impact [on users]. We want to bring that kind of immersive content and experience to our customers,” Lin said.
Unlike many other companies, Chunghwa Telecom expects consumer-oriented services — high-quality video, AR and VR applications, and smart home applications — to be the first 5G growth driver, rather than applications designated for enterprises, Lin said.
It would be time-consuming for telecoms to develop applications catering to the special needs of specific industries, he said.
“In the initial stage, consumers will be the early adopters of 5G services. The development of 5G in South Korea is the proof,” Lin said.
Since the commercial launch of 5G in April, about 3 million South Koreans have signed up for the services, he said.
In the long term, 5G technology would bring a revolutionary shift for most industries and create more value for enterprise clients, he added.
Commenting about the company’s 5G pricing strategy, Lin said the company would “be very careful about its pricing policy,” given the cutthroat competition in Taiwan and heavy investment in 5G.
The company would look to implement a 5G tariff that is affordable for consumers, but high enough for the company to recover its costs, he said.
However, it would be unlikely that Taiwanese companies would follow their South Korean peers and set flat rates of about NT$2,000 (US$65.37) a month, which would be too costly for consumers, he said.
Verizon Media is the latest participant in the Taiwan 5G Alliance (台灣5G產業聯盟), which was cofounded by Chunghwa Telecom in January last year.
The alliance has grown to include more than 50 members, including 5G chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) and communications equipment supplier Sercomm Corp (中磊).
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
A TAIWAN DEAL: TSMC is in early talks to fully operate Intel’s US semiconductor factories in a deal first raised by Trump officials, but Intel’s interest is uncertain Broadcom Inc has had informal talks with its advisers about making a bid for Intel Corp’s chip-design and marketing business, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Nothing has been submitted to Intel and Broadcom could decide not to pursue a deal, according to the Journal. Bloomberg News earlier reported that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is in early talks for a controlling stake in Intel’s factories at the request of officials at US President Donald Trump’s administration, as the president looks to boost US manufacturing and maintain the country’s leadership in critical technologies. Trump officials raised the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
CHIP BOOM: Revenue for the semiconductor industry is set to reach US$1 trillion by 2032, opening up opportunities for the chip pacakging and testing company, it said ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest provider of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services, yesterday launched a new advanced manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, aiming to meet growing demand for emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The US$300 million facility is a critical step in expanding ASE’s global footprint, offering an alternative for customers from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China to assemble and test chips outside of Taiwan amid efforts to diversify supply chains. The plant, the company’s fifth in Malaysia, is part of a strategic expansion plan that would more than triple
RSS