Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), the world's biggest motherboard manufacturer, has announced plans to enter the European market with its own liquid-crystal-display (LCD) televisions in Europe, the world's biggest TV market, to boost its brand business.
The company has been diversifying into consumer electronics with brand-name products to fuel growth amid narrowing margins in the contract manufacturing business.
Late last year, Asustek tapped into the LCD TV market by unveiling its first model with a 32-inch screen and a high price tag in the domestic market, setting it up in competition with the industry's top brand, Sony Corp.
PHOTO: CHEN MEI-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Nine months later, Asustek yesterday launched its second flat-screen model, featuring a 42-inch screen, and said it was looking beyond its home market this time.
"Entering the European market will be our first step next year. China will be next," Benson Lin (
Europe accounted for more than 40 percent of the world's total LCD TV sales of 9.4 million units in the second quarter of this year, according to market researcher DispalySearch.
To meet demand for consumers with a big living room, Asustek plans to roll out 37-inch, 46-inch and 47-inch LCD TVs next year.
Lin said that Asustek aimed to sell 800 more LCD TV sets a month locally by the year's end after racking up a total of 2,000 sales in the first eight months of the year, Lin said.
A total of 300,000 LCD TV sets were sold under around 30 brands in Taiwan in the same period.
Asustek also sells brand-name mobile phones and laptop computers, as well as computer motherboards.
With its own-brand business having grown to account for about 45 percent of the company's total revenues, Asustek told investors that it was planning to split off its brand-name unit from its contract manufacturing business in the next three years.
The separation would mark another big restructuring program after Acer Inc, the world's No. 4 computer vendor, took the lead among local firms in spinning off its contract manufacturing business to create Wistron Corp (
Asustek posted NT$142.76 billion (US$4.3 billion) in revenues for the first half of this year and NT$7.12 billion, or NT$2.35 per share, in net profits. Profit margin was less than 4 percent.
Asustek shares jumped 1.31 percent to NT$77.5 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday, outperforming the 0.14 percent loss of the benchmark TAIEX.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI