BenQ Corp (明基), which took over Siemens AG's cellphone unit on Oct. 1, said on Monday it agreed to sponsor Spanish soccer club Real Madrid from next season through 2010 for an undisclosed amount.
The world's richest team will wear the BenQ-Siemens brand on its jerseys and display the logo at its Santiago Bernabeu stadium, BenQ said in a statement. Sports daily Marca said the accord is worth 100 million euros (US$118 million).
"It's one of the top deals" in sports team sponsorship, said Jan Lindemann, global managing director of brand valuation at Interbrand, a London-based consultant. "It's a big leap for BenQ."
Siemens has sponsored Madrid, whose squad includes David Beckham, Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane, since 2002. The Siemens accord, worth 17 million euros this season according to Marca, expires in June.
Vodafone, the world's largest cellphone company, pays ?9 million (US$15.7 million) a year to put its name on Manchester United's jerseys. According to London-based consultant Redmandarin Ltd, Samsung Electronics Co pays Chelsea ?10 million a year.
BenQ, Taiwan's biggest handset maker, may seek to benefit from its association with Beckham, soccer's richest player who ended a three-year endorsement accord with Vodafone in July.
"There's an opportunity there," Lindemann said.
The association with Taipei-based BenQ will boost Real Madrid in Asia, the team's marketing director Jose Angel Sanchez said in the statement. The team went on tours of China and Japan in the last two years to boost its brand.
Real Madrid ended Manchester United's eight-year reign as the biggest soccer team by revenue after sales rose 17 percent to 275.7 million euros in the year ended June 30, according to accounts approved by the Spanish team's members on Oct. 2.
Madrid failed to win a trophy in the last two seasons, its worst stint in 13 years.
Siemens in June agreed to pay BenQ 250 million euros to take over its unprofitable cellphone unit.
The BenQ brand is worth US$343.5 million compared with Siemens' US$7.5 billion, according to Interbrand.
ELECTRONICS BOOST: A predicted surge in exports would likely be driven by ICT products, exports of which have soared 84.7 percent from a year earlier, DBS said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast for Taiwan this year to 4 percent from 3 percent, citing robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-related exports and accelerated shipment activity, which are expected to offset potential headwinds from US tariffs. “Our GDP growth forecast for 2025 is revised up to 4 percent from 3 percent to reflect front-loaded exports and strong AI demand,” Singapore-based DBS senior economist Ma Tieying (馬鐵英) said in an online briefing. Taiwan’s second-quarter performance beat expectations, with GDP growth likely surpassing 5 percent, driven by a 34.1 percent year-on-year increase in exports, Ma said, citing government
‘REMARKABLE SHOWING’: The economy likely grew 5 percent in the first half of the year, although it would likely taper off significantly, TIER economist Gordon Sun said The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) yesterday raised Taiwan’s GDP growth forecast for this year to 3.02 percent, citing robust export-driven expansion in the first half that is likely to give way to a notable slowdown later in the year as the front-loading of global shipments fades. The revised projection marks an upward adjustment of 0.11 percentage points from April’s estimate, driven by a surge in exports and corporate inventory buildup ahead of possible US tariff hikes, TIER economist Gordon Sun (孫明德) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy likely grew more than 5 percent in the first six months
SMART MANUFACTURING: The company aims to have its production close to the market end, but attracting investment is still a challenge, the firm’s president said Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said its long-term global production plan would stay unchanged amid geopolitical and tariff policy uncertainties, citing its diversified global deployment. With operations in Taiwan, Thailand, China, India, Europe and the US, Delta follows a “produce at the market end” strategy and bases its production on customer demand, with major site plans unchanged, Delta president Simon Chang (張訓海) said on the sidelines of a company event yesterday. Thailand would remain Delta’s second headquarters, as stated in its first-quarter earnings conference, with its plant there adopting a full smart manufacturing system, Chang said. Thailand is the firm’s second-largest overseas
SUPPLY RESILIENCE: The extra expense would be worth it, as the US firm is diversifying chip sourcing to avert disruptions similar to the one during the pandemic, the CEO said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) on Wednesday said that the chips her company gets from supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would cost more when they are produced in TSMC’s Arizona facilities. Compared with similar parts from factories in Taiwan, the US chips would be “more than 5 percent, but less than 20 percent” in terms of higher costs, she said at an artificial intelligence (AI) event in Washington. AMD expects its first chips from TSMC’s Arizona facilities by the end of the year, Su said. The extra expense is worth it, because the company is
RSS