The global personal computer industry marches into its fourth phase -- the extended PC era -- following two decades of evolution from mass production into multimedia and the Internet age, said Intel Corp President and CEO Craig Barrett yesterday.
"The extended PC is really an architect to handle a variety of information-type audiences. It is what people use to access the Internet for creative pursuits, productive work, communication and entertainment," Barrett said.
The head of the world's number one chipmaker described the evolution of the personal computer as having influenced into "all aspects of our lives."
"So, is the PC dead? I find this [question] very interesting while we are here celebrating the 20th anniversary of PC development in Taiwan," Barrett told a gathering of government officials, IT industry leaders and the media yesterday. "I think the PC will continue ... to roll in expanded capability and continue to offer all of us more," Barrett said.
Barrett was joined yesterday by such local IT heavyweights as Matthew Miao (
Indeed Barrett said, he expects trillions of dollars in business opportunities -- primarily in the form of business-to-business electronic commerce -- to take shape on the Internet within the next five years, as the "PC will become the center of our digital world," he said.
"Today, 99.9 percent of those devices are personal computers," Barrett said, "though it may not be such a high percentage in the future, the personal computer will still be the primary access device to the Internet."
Echoing Barrett's comments, Asustek's Shih said he expects Taiwan continue to contribute to the world's PC sector for another 20 years by embracing the Internet economy.
He added that innovation -- incorporating R&D in computer, communications and consumer electronics products -- will help strengthen Taiwan's PC industry.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”