Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday said it is aiming to become a lifestyle brand following the launch of new energy drink in a livestream on Tuesday night.
The beverage, called Predator Shot, is perhaps one of the computer company’s most surprising attempts in expanding the Predator gaming line.
Seeking to repackage Acer as a lifestyle brand, the company has announced several accessories vaguely related to PCs, including a gaming inspired massage chair in collaboration with Singapore’s OSIM International Ltd (傲勝國際) and a sling bag sporting the green Acer logo.
Photo: CNA
“Our energy drink will help boost gamers’ energy and reduce fatigue resulting from too much screen time,” Acer chairman and CEO Jason Chen (陳俊聖) told a news conference at the company’s headquarters in New Taipei City, while also unveiling a collagen drink that targets female gamers.
Citing a saturated market, Chen said the company has to seek new growth beyond the PC industry.
“Forty years ago it [the PC industry] is considered a high-tech industry, but now it is no longer the case,” Chen said
“We cannot [afford to] stay in such a mature market and expect things to get better,” he added.
Still, Acer has witnessed a boom this quarter as sales over the past two months surged on the back of robust demand fostered by the growing trend for distance learning and work-from-home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With orders throughout the fall remaining high, the company is optimistic about its PC business in the second half of the year.
“[The increase] in demand from distance learning is phenomenal... We are having trouble satisfying up to one-third of our orders,” Acer cochief operating officer and president of corporate marketing, business planning and operations Tiffany Huang (黃資婷) said.
The imbalance between supply and demand is compounded by persistent supply chain disruptions across the PC industry, Huang said.
“As some countries remain under lockdown, some plants are unable to resume production... The delay of one component can lead to another,” she said, adding that the company is talking with suppliers to resolve shortages of components and raw materials.
China is set to become the largest growth driver for the company this year.
“Due to our relatively small presence on the Chinese market and the country’s early recovery [from the pandemic], we believe it holds great potential,” Huang said, adding that Acer is witnessing a growth rate higher than the PC industry’s average.
However, Acer’s performance in other countries across the Asia-Pacific region — including India and Indonesia — might be affected by continuous strict COVID-19 containment measures.
Last year, India and Indonesia accounted for about 25 percent of the company’s sales in the region.
Demand from the European and US markets is expected to continue on an upward trend due to their relatively rapid online migrations, the company said.
On Ireland’s blustery western seaboard, researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun, but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a “revolution” in wind energy. “We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power,” said Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-meter kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
Leading Taiwanese bicycle brands Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) and Merida Industry Co (美利達工業) on Sunday said that they have adopted measures to mitigate the impact of the tariff policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration. The US announced at the beginning of this month that it would impose a 20 percent tariff on imported goods made in Taiwan, effective on Thursday last week. The tariff would be added to other pre-existing most-favored-nation duties and industry-specific trade remedy levy, which would bring the overall tariff on Taiwan-made bicycles to between 25.5 percent and 31 percent. However, Giant did not seem too perturbed by the
TARIFF CONCERNS: Semiconductor suppliers are tempering expectations for the traditionally strong third quarter, citing US tariff uncertainty and a stronger NT dollar Several Taiwanese semiconductor suppliers are taking a cautious view of the third quarter — typically a peak season for the industry — citing uncertainty over US tariffs and the stronger New Taiwan dollar. Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科技) said that customers accelerated orders in the first half of the year to avoid potential tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump’s administration. As a result, it anticipates weaker-than-usual peak-season demand in the third quarter. The US tariff plan, announced on April 2, initially proposed a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese goods. Its implementation was postponed by 90 days to July 9, then
RSS