Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc will produce its next-generation virtual reality and augmented reality headsets in Vietnam, creating more than 1,000 jobs, the company said yesterday.
Speaking at a tech conference in Hanoi, Meta president of global affairs Nick Clegg said that the firm would focus on the production of the Quest 3S headset in the Southeast Asian country.
“We will, with our local partners, be manufacturing them here in Vietnam, and we estimate that this will create well over 1,000 new jobs,” he said.
Photo: AFP
Vietnam — long a low-cost destination to make clothes, shoes and furniture — is eyeing a rapid climb up the global supply chain.
The Vietnamese government last week said that Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to invest US$1.5 billion in the country.
Vietnam is particularly intent on developing its capabilities in the lucrative chip industry, with global supply chain shocks and fears about US reliance on China for key resources boosting investment there.
Facebook is widely used in Vietnam and Clegg said the nation was among the global leaders in using its Messenger platform “not just to send messages to family and friends, but actually communicate with businesses and so foster trade and commerce across the country.”
However, Facebook has also faced criticism from human rights groups in the past few years for blocking content deemed illegal by the country’s government.
Facebook is a popular platform for rights advocates in Vietnam, where all independent media are banned.
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) expects its addressable market to grow by a low single-digit percentage this year, lower than the overall foundry industry’s 15 percent expansion and the global semiconductor industry’s 10 percent growth, the contract chipmaker said yesterday after reporting the worst profit in four-and-a-half years in the fourth quarter of last year. Growth would be fueled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, a moderate recovery in consumer electronics and an increase in semiconductor content, UMC said. “UMC’s goal is to outgrow our addressable market while maintaining our structural profitability,” UMC copresident Jason Wang (王石) told an online earnings
Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登精密), the sole extreme ultraviolet (EUV) pod supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), is aiming to expand revenue to NT$10 billion (US$304.8 million) this year, as it expects the artificial intelligence (AI) boom to drive demand for wafer delivery pods and pods used in advanced packaging technology. That suggests the firm’s revenue could grow as much as 53 percent this year, after it posted a 28.91 percent increase to NT$6.55 billion last year, exceeding its 20 percent growth target. “We usually set an aggressive target internally to drive further growth. This year, our target is to
The TAIEX ended the Year of the Dragon yesterday up about 30 percent, led by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電). The benchmark index closed up 225.40 points, or 0.97 percent, at 23,525.41 on the last trading session of the Year of the Dragon before the Lunar New Year holiday ushers in the Year of the Snake. During the Year of the Dragon, the TAIEX rose 5,429.34 points, the highest ever, while the 30 percent increase in the year was the second-highest behind only a 30.84 percent gain in the Year of the Rat from Jan. 25, 2020, to Feb.
Cryptocurrencies gave a lukewarm reception to US President Donald Trump’s first policy moves on digital assets, notching small gains after he commissioned a report on regulation and a crypto reserve. Bitcoin has been broadly steady since Trump took office on Monday and was trading at about US$105,000 yesterday as some of the euphoria around a hoped-for revolution in cryptocurrency regulation ebbed. Smaller cryptocurrency ether has likewise had a fairly steady week, although was up 5 percent in the Asia day to US$3,420. Bitcoin had been one of the most spectacular “Trump trades” in financial markets, gaining 50 percent to break above US$100,000 and
RSS