Industrial PC maker Advantech Co (研華) yesterday said it has launched its ASEAN Shared Service Center (ASSC) in Penang, Malaysia, as the company steps up efforts to target the Asia-Pacific region in shift from China.
“The establishment of ASSC in Penang signifies the company’s initial phase in implementing the ‘China Plus One’ strategy,” Advantech managing director for Asia and intercontinental region Vincent Chang (張敏忠) said in a statement.
The company’s goal is to support industrial users in project implementation and in-depth development, while also reinforcing regional core competencies and localized services, Chang said.
Photo courtesy of Advantech Co
“Penang, dubbed as the ‘Silicon Valley of the East’ and rich in multicultural talent, was selected for this purpose,” he said.
Along with the establishment of ASSC, the company signed a letter of intent with Piacom JSC, a system integrator affiliated with Vietnamese petroleum group Petrolimex, to offer complete solutions — covering both software and hardware — for the gas station industry in the region, Chang said.
In addition to delivering repair and maintenance services to regional customers, project integration and technical consultation, ASSC operates two production lines for product assembly, Advantech said.
The company said the center mainly caters to customers in Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.
The center would also assist customers in other Asia-Pacific markets, supporting them with digital transformation and artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) technology in Pakistan and the Philippines, it added.
Advantech yesterday also launched a “University Co-Creation Worldwide Expansion Plan” (UCC) as it aims to forge industry-academia collaboration, promote localized services and create a complete talent development ecosystem in the Asia-Pacific region.
The UCC plans to launch 12 AIoT laboratories in the next two years in cooperation with colleges and universities worldwide, the company said.
Advantech, the first regional industrial PC vendor dedicated to smart cities and the Internet of Things, saw consolidated revenue last year drop 6.08 percent year-on-year to NT$64.57 billion (US$2.06 billion), as the company faced multiple challenges from high global inflation, geopolitical conflicts and uncertainties regarding the recovery of China’s economy.
Japan was the best-performing market last year with 10 percent growth annually, while Taiwan, China and emerging markets registered double-digit percentage declines, and North America and Europe single-digit percentage falls, company data showed.
This year, the company expects a return in growth and looks at operational efficiency optimization in the short term, driven by new orders for emerging IoT applications and deployment for new markets in the second half of the year, it said.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
GREAT SUCCESS: Republican Senator Todd Young expressed surprise at Trump’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running US lawmakers who helped secure billions of dollars in subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturing rejected US President Donald Trump’s call to revoke the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, signaling that any repeal effort in the US Congress would fall short. US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who negotiated the law, on Wednesday said that Trump’s demand would fail, while a top Republican proponent, US Senator Todd Young, expressed surprise at the president’s comments and said he expects the administration to keep the program running. The CHIPS Act is “essential for America leading the world in tech, leading the world in AI [artificial
DOMESTIC SUPPLY: The probe comes as Donald Trump has called for the repeal of the US$52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which the US Congress passed in 2022 The Office of the US Trade Representative is to hold a hearing tomorrow into older Chinese-made “legacy” semiconductors that could heap more US tariffs on chips from China that power everyday goods from cars to washing machines to telecoms equipment. The probe, which began during former US president Joe Biden’s tenure in December last year, aims to protect US and other semiconductor producers from China’s massive state-driven buildup of domestic chip supply. A 50 percent US tariff on Chinese semiconductors began on Jan. 1. Legacy chips use older manufacturing processes introduced more than a decade ago and are often far simpler than
Gasoline and diesel prices this week are to decrease NT$0.5 and NT$1 per liter respectively as international crude prices continued to fall last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to decrease to NT$29.2, NT$30.7 and NT$32.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost NT$27.9 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.7 at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements. Global crude oil prices dropped last week after the eight OPEC+ members said they would
RSS