Arima Computer Corp (華宇電腦) said yesterday that it had signed a letter of intent with Flextronics International, Singapore's electronics manufacturing service provider, to sell its unprofitable notebook computer and server manufacturing equipment and facilities for US$191.5 million.
In a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, Arima said it planned to sell its laptop and server assets in Taiwan and China and subsidiaries in Japan, the US and UK to Flextronics Computing Sales and Marketing Ltd.
"The company plans to sell notebook and server assets and operations in order to help it focus on other businesses with high value and growth potential," Arima said in the filing.
The notebook computer maker said it lacked competitiveness in those two areas, where orders went mostly to top players.
Arima said it would see a NT$20 billion (US$604.9 million) reduction in its annual revenues in the wake of the deal, the Chinese-language online news agency cnyes.com reported.
Some 3,500 Arima employees would be allocated to Flextronics after the transaction, the report said.
Arima makes 350,000 laptop computers for customers, including US PC vendor Gateway Inc and 20,000 servers a month, the report said.
The deal will need the approval of Arima's shareholders and the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Investment Commission.
Based on the preliminary agreement it reached with Flextronics, Arima said it would also sell its shares in subsidiaries such as Arima Computer (Japan) Corp, Arima Computer (Texas) Corp, Arima Computer (UK) Ltd and Arima Computer (California) Corp to Flextronics Computing Sales and Marketing Ltd.
Both sides will have to sign a formal contract within the next 45 days, Arima said.
It has scheduled an extraordinary shareholder meeting at its Taoyuan headquarters on Nov. 12 to approve the deal, Arima said in a separate filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Arima's asset and share sales were announced after the close of the local market yesterday.
Its shares rose NT$0.23 or 2.8 percent to close at NT$8.45 yesterday, compared to an increase of 0.63 percent in the TAIEX.
Arima shares have risen 15.13 percent this year.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the