Franco-American telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent yesterday unveiled its new WiMAX application and interoperability testing (IOT) center in Taipei, offering testing services for six local companies including handset chipmaker MediaTek Inc (聯發科) and telecom equipment maker Gemtek Technology Co (正文).
The new center was Alcatel-Lucent's second such center after the one in Villarceaux, France, where chipmakers and telecom companies can test their products using high-speed WiMAX technology.
"There is significant market potential for WiMAX in Taiwan and the IOT Center stands to play a leading role in realizing that potential," Tony Chung (鍾贊耀), president of Alcatel-Lucent's business in Taiwan, said yesterday.
In October, Alcatel-Lucent signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Economic Affairs to set up the center to help foster the nation's WiMAX industry. The government said local firms should generate NT$140 billion (US$4.46 billion) by 2012 from WiMAX-related products.
"The center will save us time ... and lower costs as we position ourselves to sell new WiMAX products," said Chu Shun-i (朱順一), chairman of ZyXEL Communications Corp (合勤科技), which signed a contract with US telecom carrier Sprint Nextel Corp to sell WiMAX equipment last year.
Computer and motherboard maker Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) said it would start shipping WiMAX cards for computers and handheld devices enabling WiMAX Internet connection in the second quarter.
MediaTek chairman Tsai Ming-Kai (蔡明介) said demand for WiMAX for high-speed Internet connection would substantially increase in 2010.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world's largest laptop computer maker on contract basis, and local telecom equipment maker Accton Technology Corp (智邦科技) also backed the test center yesterday.
Alcatel-Lucent supplies WiMAX equipment to Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation's top telephone company, and Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), which also won the right to launch WiMAX mobile services by the end of this year and to implement the WiMAX network in some counties.
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