In the latest case of domestic electronics companies making a shift into own-brand business, Gigabyte Communications Co Ltd (集嘉通訊), a mobile phone affiliate of computer motherboard maker Gigabyte Technology Co (技嘉), yesterday announced that it has entered the nation's crowded handset market.
Gigabyte Technology's move came two years after its bigger rival Asustek Computer Inc (
Gigabyte Communications, established last June, said it plans to launch its first mobile phone under the Gigabyte brand in the July-September period. The handset will be targeted at the high-end segment, which accounts for about one-fifth of the nation's NT$42 billion (US$1.35) market.
The company is also seeking opportunities to make phones for international brands outside the Asian market, Jesse Lee (李忠義), a vice president of Gigabyte Communications, said in a phone interview.
"In the initial phase, we are targeting high-end models, because of the high margin and lower competition," Lee said.
He said his company will not throw a large number of models into the market as some vendors are doing in order to grab a larger market share, but plans to introduce at least four models locally.
Gigabyte Communications will not roll out handsets cable of offering third-generation (3G) services in the short term, he said.
Local wireless service providers, led by state-owned Chunghwa Telecom Co (
Gigabyte Communications plans to expand its staff to around 200 from 80. Half of the company's employees work in the research and development department.
"It is not a bad idea to tap into the high-end segment, but it will still be a real challenge for a new entrant like Gigabyte Communications to muscle into the market, which is approaching saturation," said Marty Kung (
As the rate of growth in the market is weakening, it would be easier for Gigabyte Communications to take on local vendors for a share of Taiwan's mobile phone market, Kung said.
Three major local vendors, BenQ Corp (
He predicted that handset sales will only inch up around 3 percent this year to 6.7 million units, from 6.5 million last year.
But the prospect for local companies is even gloomier after Taiwan's cellphone carriers start offering 3G services in the second half of the year, as most local players have lagged behind their global competitors in developing handsets capable of offering the new services, he said.
"Without a near-term plan to launch 3G handsets, the company could face a rough start in building a position in Taiwan's mobile phone market," Kung said.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy