Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), the nation’s third-largest mobile operator, yesterday said it won the exclusive rights to sell Hewlett-Packard Co’s (HP) netbook computers in Taiwan along with a three-year telecoms service contract, the latest tie-up between telecoms firms and netbook suppliers.
The unconventional business model is becoming even more popular during the economic downturn, with telecoms operators seeking to boost data service revenues by selling data card services in cooperation with notebook makers as more people turn to affordable netbooks, with functions that include an Internet connection.
“About 70 percent to 80 percent of Far EasTone data card subscribers chose to subscribe to the service when they purchased a netbook,” Far EasTone executive vice president Philby Chen (李靜芳) said.
“If the economic weakness continues, I believe there will be more people selecting to go with netbooks when subscribing to our service,” she said.
The sales of HP netbooks may help Far EasTone hit its target of boosting data card subscription to 250,000 users by the end of this year, from 150,000 users currently, Chen said.
Starting today, NT$7,990 will get consumers an HP Mini 1015 TU netbook and a three-year service contract with a minimum monthly fee of NT$775. Without the service package, the HP netbook is priced at NT$18,990.
Currently, Far EasTone also offers discounts for netbooks from Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) and Acer Inc (宏碁) for its data card subscribers who sign a service contract.
The nation’s three biggest telecoms companies, led by Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), are all working with netbook makers to sell their data card services, aiming to spur data usage to offset falling voice traffic.
Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) is selling its own-brand netbooks at a lower price than existing brands along with its data cards, making it the only telecoms company tapping the netbook market.
“We will not rule out the possibility of supplying own-brand netbooks,” Chen said. “But it is not an urgent thing for us, as most netbook users are brand-aware and want good quality.”
Bankers in Hong Kong skipped the summer break as an artificial intelligence (AI)-fueled rush for capital sent share sales to a record, defying a bruising selloff in the city’s stocks. Initial public offerings (IPOs), placements and block trades raised US$47.5 billion in July to last month, the biggest haul ever for the period, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. That pushed fundraising this year above US$92 billion and within reach of the US$112.5 billion record set in 2021. AI has been at the heart of Hong Kong’s deal revival, but this summer brought a new level of intensity. Chinese companies raised ever-larger sums
SILICON ISLAND: When asked about geopolitical tensions, Lisa Su said that ‘Taiwan is absolutely critical to the semiconductor supply chain, and very, very critical for AMD’ Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) yesterday said the company plans to “substantially” increase manufacturing capacity next year through its Taiwanese supply chain, particularly with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as surging demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-related processors continues to outstrip supply. “It is a very exciting time right now for all kinds of compute, and especially on the CPU [central processing unit] side,” Su said during a visit to Taiwan. “The overall market has increased a lot in 2026, and so we have also increased our own supply and capacity in 2026, but I can
INDUSTRY STANDARD: Most global semiconductor companies have tied employee bonuses directly to corporate profits, the union said, urging Micron to do the same Micron Memory Taiwan Co’s (台灣美光) Taoyuan union secured strike authorization yesterday after a six-day vote, ramping up pressure on management to build a reasonable profit-sharing mechanism. Before the strike, the Taoyuan union “encourages” members to join a protest in Taipei on Oct. 19, union chairman Jerry Lin (林哲瑞) told a news conference in Taipei. The union did not rule out staging a snap strike, Lin said. The union has 2,258 registered members, with 88.3 percent backing the strike, he said. The vote comes as Micron’s board of directors is meeting today and tomorrow in the US. The union expects the board to respond
Elon Musk said his business empire would build and operate Terafab independently, quashing speculation about industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) swooping in to run his ambitious chipmaking venture. Based in Texas, the Terafab project is Musk’s effort to break into the business of fabricating chips, in service of his companies Tesla Inc and SpaceXAI. While Musk had said that he was in discussions with TSMC, the trillionaire clarified in an X post yesterday that the only matter under consideration is for TSMC potentially leasing some part of the planned site and would not involve any operational role. “Maybe TSMC
RSS