A co-founder of Skype yesterday called on local vendors to "think outside of Taiwan," in a bid to further cash in on the worldwide phenomenon of the world's leading Internet phone service.
"There are a lot of good software and hardware engineers in Taiwan and they have good ideas. But they don't think big enough," said Geoffrey Prentice, who is also Skype's chief strategy officer.
Do not just think about the users in Taiwan, but try to expand their horizons to the world, Prentice told reporters in Taipei after delivering a keynote speech at the "Skype Day in Taiwan" workshop -- the only Skype gathering in Asia this year.
Thinking globally would help local companies reach out to a much larger Skype user base, which now has 136 million registered members in the world, he said.
Citing his home country, Swe-den, which has a population of 9 million, Prentice said gaining a huge market share there does not speak for much success.
The "think big" attitude has made Skype the world's most popular Internet phone service since its launch in August 2003, as it allows free calls among members anywhere in the world.
Currently, devices catering to Skype, such as Wi-Fi phones have a market size of US$1.5 billion, a huge jump from last year's US$200 million, Prentice said.
Eyeing the Skype craze, a horde of local hardware companies have been jumping into the development of related devices.
The companies include wireless equipment player Accton Technology Corp (智邦科技), motherboard maker Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), and Ipevo Inc -- a subsidiary of PC Home Online (網路家庭).
Taiwan, which saw the launch of Skype in July 2004, has 4.5 million users to date, up from 3 million last year.
In the second quarter of next year, Skype is expected to establish a center in Taiwan to certify Skype compatible products.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip assembly and testing service provider, yesterday said it would boost equipment capital expenditure by up to 16 percent for this year to cope with strong customer demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Aside from AI, a growing demand for semiconductors used in the automotive and industrial sectors is to drive ASE’s capacity next year, the Kaohsiung-based company said. “We do see the disparity between AI and other general sectors, and that pretty much aligns the scenario in the first half of this year,” ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu (吳田玉) told an
RSS