Sampo Corp (聲寶), the nation's leading manufacturer of home appliances, announced a strategic partnership with First International Computer Co (FIC,
"The partnership of a home-appliance maker and IT company will create a win-win situation for both. This will enable Sampo to further tap into the European markets," Sampo's chairman Eric Chen (
Sampo will outsource the production of its 35-inch to 47-inch liquid-crystal-display (LCD) TVs, as well as 42-inch and 50-inch plasma TVs, to FIC's plants in the Czech Republic, he added.
As companies need to pay a 14 percent levy when importing TVs to Europe, the average production cost will be reduced by more than 10 percent by utilizing FIC's production facilities in the Czech Republic, which is strategically located at the heart of Europe, he said.
FIC set up its first sales office in the Czech Republic in 1991, with mass production of consumer PCs starting in 1998. Its PC production capacity is more than 100,000 a month.
The collaboration with Sampo will mark FIC's first large-scale production of LCD and plasma TVs for a Taiwanese company, with initial output estimated to be 10,000 units a month, said Bjorn Tsai (
According to Peter Chen (陳盛旺), vice president of Sampo's electronic devices business unit, the company wants to push its branded electronics products to the same level as those of LG Electronics Inc and Samsung Electronics Co.
He added that Sampo's overseas business is set to increase over the next three years to double the level of its domestic business, as a result of active market exploration in the US, Europe, India and the Middle East.
Currently, Sampo's overseas and domestic operations each contribute 50 percent to total revenues, while its brandname and contract manufacturing businesses account for 80 percent and 20 percent of sales, he said.
Sampo set up a joint sales company in March with German consumer-electronics firm G-Hanz, which has comprehensive sales channels in Sampo's targeted markets. Based in Munich, the venture will sell LCD TVs, plasma TVs, air conditioners, washing machines and refrigerators under the co-branded "G-Hanz SAMPO" name in these markets, he said.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure