Hewlett-Packard's (HP) chief executive Mark Hurd visited Taiwan earlier this month to meet with some of the company's local suppliers, a source at the US-based electronics firm said yesterday.
"He mainly paid visits to local contract manufacturers to forge stronger business relationships with local partners," the source from the local HP office said on condition of anonymity.
Hurd met with top executives from Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (
HP has been sourcing IT components and products from these suppliers, as well as other major players such as Quanta Computer Inc (
The source said that Hurd preferred to maintain a low-profile visit -- his first to Taiwan since taking over as CEO in April last year -- in contrast to the much-publicized visit of his predecessor, Carly Fiorina.
Fiorina came to Taipei for the second time in October 2004, making a splash with her meetings with President Chen Shui-bian (
HP is expected to remain the largest foreign procurer of Tai-wanese IT products this year, followed by Dell Inc and Sony Corp.
Its total procurement from Taiwanese firms is expected to reach US$20 billion this year, up 17.6 percent from last year, according to the statistics from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Total procurement by foreign firms this year is forecast to amount to US$73.3 billion, up 10.9 percent from last year, with computers, IC and flat panels as the three largest items, the data showed.
The total amount is expected to rise more than 10 percent next year, the ministry said.
HP overtook Dell in the third quarter to become the world's largest PC maker, fueled by strong momentum from markets outside the US, such as Europe.
It forecast last Tuesday that revenues would top US$100 billion for the first time in fiscal 2008, with growth driven by its computer hardware and printing businesses, as well as cost-cutting efforts. HP reported revenue of US$91.7 billion for fiscal 2006.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of last month, surpassing the US$600 billion mark for the first time, the central bank said yesterday. Last month, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose US$5.51 billion from a month earlier to reach US$602.94 billion due to an increase in returns from the central bank’s portfolio management, the movement of other foreign currencies in the portfolio against the US dollar and the bank’s efforts to smooth the volatility of the New Taiwan dollar. Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民)said a rate cut cycle launched by the US Federal Reserve
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
Businesses across the global semiconductor supply chain are bracing themselves for disruptions from an escalating trade war, after China imposed curbs on rare earth mineral exports and the US responded with additional tariffs and restrictions on software sales to the Asian nation. China’s restrictions, the most targeted move yet to limit supplies of rare earth materials, represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry, threatening to stall the chips powering the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. They prompted US President Donald Trump on Friday to announce that he would impose an additional
Pegatron Corp (和碩), a key assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, on Thursday reported a 12.3 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for last quarter to NT$257.86 billion (US$8.44 billion), but it expects revenue to improve in the second half on traditional holiday demand. The fourth quarter is usually the peak season for its communications products, a company official said on condition of anonymity. As Apple released its new iPhone 17 series early last month, sales in the communications segment rose sequentially last month, the official said. Shipments to Apple have been stable and in line with earlier expectations, they said. Pegatron shipped 2.4 million notebook
RSS