High Tech Computer Corp (
"The visit of Softbank to High Tech Computer this week will benefit the latter as High Tech Computer has stepped up efforts in making inroads into the Japanese market this year," Ann Liang (梁嘉鈴), principal analyst at research firm Gartner Inc's Taiwan branch, told the Taipei Times.
The Japanese telecommunication ecosystem differs from other nations as major operators such as NTT DoCoMo Inc, KDDI Corp and Vodafone KK, have a say on specifications of mobile phones to be sold to users, she said.
"It is a smart move for High Tech Computer to explore Japan's market by working with these domestic telecom players," she added.
The analyst's remark came after the Chinese-language daily the Commercial Times reported on Tuesday that top officials from Softbank paid a visit to High Tech Computer on Monday to discuss possible smartphone procurements from the Taiwanese maker to supply to Vodafone KK, a business unit Softbank recently acquired.
The paper said that High Tech Computer is also mulling the possibility of setting up a branch to manage growing business in Japan.
"We see positive implications [from Softbank's visit]... With NTT DoCoMo's shipment starting, and fresh interest from Softbank/Vodafone KK, Japan will be another important market for High Tech Computer, in addition to Europe, the US and Asia," Vincent Chen (陳豊丰), an analyst with foreign securities brokerage CLSA Ltd said in a research note released yesterday.
In March, Softbank acquired Vodafone KK, Japan's third-largest mobile phone operator, for ¥1.75 trillion (US$15.9 billion), making it one of the biggest-ever acquisitions in Japanese history.
The third-generation (3G) subscriber base of Vodafone KK -- previously the ailing Japanese unit of the world's biggest handset company Vodafone -- has only 2 million to 2.5 million users in Japan.
The figure is much smaller than NTT DoCoMo's approximately 19 million, a client High Tech Computer signed up last year and will start supplying 3.5 G handsets to this month, Chen said in the note.
Nonetheless, any High Tech Computer-Softbank partnership would serve as a boost to the Taiwanese company's forecast shipments of 10 million smartphones this year, he added.
In a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Tuesday, High Tech Computer denied any partnership with Softbank, saying that it was merely media speculation.
The company's shares were down 0.44 percent yesterday to close at NT$1,125 (US$35.63) on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
This is not the first time Softbank has been linked to potential Taiwanese partners, as the company is also looking to form a joint venture here to tap into the booming Internet TV market, founder Masayoshi Son told reporters during a visit to Taipei in November.
The company is in talks with TV stations, digital content providers, record labels, broadcasting firms and production houses over possible partnerships to push its Internet TV platform called TV Bank.
Set to launch in spring, the platform will enable viewers to search for and watch content such as foreign films over broadband connections, which Son believed will be a new cash cow.
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Taiwan has enough crude oil reserves for more than 100 days and sufficient natural gas reserves for more than 11 days, both above the regulatory safety requirement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, adding that the government would prioritize domestic price stability as conflicts in the Middle East continue. Overall, energy supply for this month is secure, and the government is continuing efforts to ensure sufficient supply for next month, Kung told reporters after meeting with representatives from business groups at the ministry in Taipei. The ministry has been holding daily cross-ministry meetings at the Executive Yuan to ensure
RATIONING: The proposal would give the Trump administration ample leverage to negotiate investments in the US as it decides how many chips to give each country US officials are debating a new regulatory framework for exporting artificial intelligence (AI) chips and are considering requiring foreign nations to invest in US AI data centers or security guarantees as a condition for granting exports of 200,000 chips or more, according to a document seen by Reuters. The rules are not yet final and could change. They would be the first attempt to regulate the flow of AI chips to US allies and partners since US President Donald Trump’s administration said it rescinded its predecessor’s so-called AI diffusion rules. Those rules sought to keep a significant amount of AI
RSS