Intel Corp, the world’s largest chipmaker, yesterday debuted a high-end desktop processor, hoping the latest chip would fuel growth of the desktop segment.
Its new Intel Core i7-980x Extreme Edition is a six-core central processing unit that it said promised a whole new level of performance.
Ken Lau (劉景慈), a director of Intel Microelectronics Asia Ltd Taiwan Branch, said the new chipset offers 34 percent better video effects and 49 percent better game physics compared with its predecessor, which is best suited for high-end gamers or professional multimedia users.
The desktop market has been stagnant in the past few years, as more users opt for notebooks, he said.
Industry tracker International Data Corp (IDC) said earlier this week that portable PCs would remain the key driver of growth in both the consumer and business markets, grabbing a 70 percent share of all PCs shipped by 2012, while desktop shipments will continue to fall everywhere except in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan).
“It is not easy to push desktops now. But small-form-factor PCs such as All-in-One [AIO] computers will take off,” said Lau, adding that AIO’s higher prices would still put some off.
Small and medium-sized businesses would also adopt small-form-factor PCs, as they save office space thanks to their compact size, Lau said.
“AIO could be the short-term engine to fuel desktop growth. But so far, we haven’t seen many upside factors that would help boost desktop penetration,” Topology Research Institute (拓墣產業研究所) researcher Ryan Lee (李易聰) said.
Shares in Taiwan closed at a new high yesterday, the first trading day of the new year, as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) continued to break records amid an artificial intelligence (AI) boom, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 386.21 points, or 1.33 percent, at 29,349.81, with turnover totaling NT$648.844 billion (US$20.65 billion). “Judging from a stronger Taiwan dollar against the US dollar, I think foreign institutional investors returned from the holidays and brought funds into the local market,” Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺) said. “Foreign investors just rebuilt their positions with TSMC as their top target,
REVENUE PERFORMANCE: Cloud and network products, and electronic components saw strong increases, while smart consumer electronics and computing products fell Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted 26.51 percent quarterly growth in revenue for last quarter to NT$2.6 trillion (US$82.44 billion), the strongest on record for the period and above expectations, but the company forecast a slight revenue dip this quarter due to seasonal factors. On an annual basis, revenue last quarter grew 22.07 percent, the company said. Analysts on average estimated about NT$2.4 trillion increase. Hon Hai, which assembles servers for Nvidia Corp and iPhones for Apple Inc, is expanding its capacity in the US, adding artificial intelligence (AI) server production in Wisconsin and Texas, where it operates established campuses. This
US President Donald Trump on Friday blocked US photonics firm HieFo Corp’s US$3 million acquisition of assets in New Jersey-based aerospace and defense specialist Emcore Corp, citing national security and China-related concerns. In an order released by the White House, Trump said HieFo was “controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China” and that its 2024 acquisition of Emcore’s businesses led the US president to believe that it might “take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” The order did not name the person or detail Trump’s concerns. “The Transaction is hereby prohibited,”
Garment maker Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽) yesterday reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue of NT$7.93 billion (US$251.44 million), down 9.48 percent from NT$8.76 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, revenue fell 10.83 percent from NT$8.89 billion, company data showed. The figure was also lower than market expectations of NT$8.05 billion, according to data compiled by Yuanta Securities Investment and Consulting Co (元大投顧), which had projected NT$8.22 billion. Makalot’s revenue this quarter would likely increase by a mid-teens percentage as the industry is entering its high season, Yuanta said. Overall, Makalot’s revenue last year totaled NT$34.43 billion, down 3.08 percent from its record NT$35.52
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