Linpus Technologies Inc (百資科技), a local Linux operating system (OS) developer, expects Linux-based netbooks to reach 50 percent market share by next year, on a par with Microsoft Inc’s Windows platform, company general manager Stephen Lim (林政道) said yesterday.
“More and more chip suppliers such as Texas Instruments Inc and Qualcomm Inc are jumping on the bandwagon to adopt Linux,” Lim told a technology seminar hosted by the Industrial Development Bureau yesterday.
“We are also seeing more and more PCs bundled with Linux from Acer Inc (宏碁), Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), Dell Inc and other computer brands,” he added.
As the Linux provider in Asia, the software company is targeting netbooks and affordable all-in-one (AIO) desktops to battle its Windows rival.
Linpus plans to introduce user-friendly interfaces that enable applications and technologies to be developed on its open platform while delivering commercial-level qualified Linux distribution and semi-annual upgrade services, Lim said.
The advantages of using a Linux system include advanced power management, optimized boot and shutdown times, as well as more WiFi and 3G support such as software development kits (SDK) from telecommunication providers, Lim said.
Last year, Windows XP and Vista together took up a 75 percent of the global market share in netbook OS, data from the Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC, 產業情報研究所) showed.
“The Windows platform isn’t necessarily better, but consumers have a certain familiarity with this OS, hence XP was able to grow so fast on netbooks last year,” Victor Horng (洪宗勝), general manager of OSS Integral Institute Co (晟鑫科技), told the Taipei Times yesterday.
Linpus also sees netbooks becoming the mainstream soon as they encroach on regular notebook sales, with sales estimated to grow 102 percent this year. Sales of regular notebooks is projected to grow 11.3 percent, while sales of desktop computers are expected to drop 0.9 percent, MIC data showed.
Global PC shipments this year are estimated to approach 300 million units, it added.
Earlier this month, Intel Corp and Novell Inc’s collaboration to aggressively push Moblin, a Linux platform, in netbooks demonstrated Intel’s resolve to build a powerful Linux-based ecosystem.
With this year’s Semicon Taiwan trade show set to kick off on Wednesday, market attention has turned to the mass production of advanced packaging technologies and capacity expansion in Taiwan and the US. With traditional scaling reaching physical limits, heterogeneous integration and packaging technologies have emerged as key solutions. Surging demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC) and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips has put technologies such as chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS), integrated fan-out (InFO), system on integrated chips (SoIC), 3D IC and fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP) at the center of semiconductor innovation, making them a major focus at this year’s trade show, according
SEMICONDUCTOR SERVICES: A company executive said that Taiwanese firms must think about how to participate in global supply chains and lift their competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it expects to launch its first multifunctional service center in Pingtung County in the middle of 2027, in a bid to foster a resilient high-tech facility construction ecosystem. TSMC broached the idea of creating a center two or three years ago when it started building new manufacturing capacity in the US and Japan, the company said. The center, dubbed an “ecosystem park,” would assist local manufacturing facility construction partners to upgrade their capabilities and secure more deals from other global chipmakers such as Intel Corp, Micron Technology Inc and Infineon Technologies AG, TSMC said. It
DEBUT: The trade show is to feature 17 national pavilions, a new high for the event, including from Canada, Costa Rica, Lithuania, Sweden and Vietnam for the first time The Semicon Taiwan trade show, which opens on Wednesday, is expected to see a new high in the number of exhibitors and visitors from around the world, said its organizer, SEMI, which has described the annual event as the “Olympics of the semiconductor industry.” SEMI, which represents companies in the electronics manufacturing and design supply chain, and touts the annual exhibition as the most influential semiconductor trade show in the world, said more than 1,200 enterprises from 56 countries are to showcase their innovations across more than 4,100 booths, and that the event could attract 100,000 visitors. This year’s event features 17
EXPORT GROWTH: The AI boom has shortened chip cycles to just one year, putting pressure on chipmakers to accelerate development and expand packaging capacity Developing a localized supply chain for advanced packaging equipment is critical for keeping pace with customers’ increasingly shrinking time-to-market cycles for new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said yesterday. Spurred on by the AI revolution, customers are accelerating product upgrades to nearly every year, compared with the two to three-year development cadence in the past, TSMC vice president of advanced packaging technology and service Jun He (何軍) said at a 3D IC Global Summit organized by SEMI in Taipei. These shortened cycles put heavy pressure on chipmakers, as the entire process — from chip design to mass
RSS