Apple Inc will receive newly developed 10-inch touch screens from Taiwan during the third quarter, Reuters reported yesterday, citing an unidentified person close to Taichung-based display maker Wintek Corp (勝華科技).
Apple does not comment on market rumors or speculation, Jill Tan, a spokeswoman for the maker of the iMac computers in Hong Kong, said by telephone yesterday. Jay Huang, a spokesman at Wintek, did not return calls seeking comment.
The article mirrors reports from Dow Jones Newswires and the Chinese-language Commercial Times, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter, that Apple may introduce a touch-screen netbook in the second half.
Apple does not offer netbooks, a booming category of laptops that perform basic functions and typically sell for less than US$500 each.
The company is working on the laptops with Taiwan’s Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) and Wintek, Dow Jones reported yesterday, citing two people close to the situation. Carol Hsu, a spokeswoman at Taoyuan-based Quanta, and Huang at Wintek declined to comment on the report yesterday.
Sales of netbooks will almost double this year, even as the total PC market shrinks 12 percent, research firm Gartner Inc said this month. The machines shot to popularity last year with sales of 11.7 million units, and shipments will hit 21 million this year, Gartner said.
Analysts including Brian Marshall at Broadpoint AmTech in San Francisco have said Apple may introduce a netbook.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has sought to quash that rumor, saying in October that Apple did not know how to make a US$500 computer that was not junk.
Quanta is the world’s biggest contract manufacturer of notebook computers. Wintek is the world’s second-largest maker of flat panels for mobile phones.
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) yesterday expressed a downbeat view about the prospects of humanoid robots, given high manufacturing costs and a lack of target customers. Despite rising demand and high expectations for humanoid robots, high research-and-development costs and uncertain profitability remain major concerns, Lam told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan. “Since it seems a bit unworthy to use such high-cost robots to do household chores, I believe robots designed for specific purposes would be more valuable and present a better business opportunity,” Lam said Instead of investing in humanoid robots, Quanta has opted to invest