Samsung Electronics Co expects the penetration rate for smart TVs in Taiwan to reach as high as 40 percent this year, with the company planning to launch 15 LCD TVs here this year, more than 90 percent of them smart TVs.
Smart TVs feature Internet access, multimedia sharing with different handheld devices and application offerings.
Aaron Chen (陳志龍), a senior manager at Samsung Taiwan’s visual display group, said the “penetration rate [for smart TV] in Taiwan would be similar to that for the rest of the world.”
About 30 percent to 40 percent of LCD TVs around the world this year will be smart TVs, Samsung Taiwan president Moon Sung-hyun said yesterday. He did not provide last year’s figure.
However, Maxwell Chang (張乘維), an analyst with Topology Research Institute (拓墣產業研究所), said it “will surprise me, if the penetration rate for smart TVs reaches 10 percent in Taiwan as prices are still expensive for most people.”
An entry-level Samsung 32-inch smart TV costs NT$33,900 (US$1,130), 60 percent more than the average NT$20,000 for an LCD TV, Chang said.
Chang forecast that only 20 percent of the 115 million LCD TV units shipped this year would be smart TVs with demand mostly from developed countries in North America and Europe, thanks to widespread Internet access.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
MARKET LEADERSHIP: Investors are flocking to Nvidia, drawn by the company’s long-term fundamntals, dominant position in the AI sector, and pricing and margin power Two years after Nvidia Corp made history by becoming the first chipmaker to achieve a US$1 trillion market capitalization, an even more remarkable milestone is within its grasp: becoming the first company to reach US$4 trillion. After the emergence of China’s DeepSeek (深度求索) sent the stock plunging earlier this year and stoked concerns that outlays on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure were set to slow, Nvidia shares have rallied back to a record. The company’s biggest customers remain full steam ahead on spending, much of which is flowing to its computing systems. Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc are
UNCERTAINTIES: The world’s biggest chip packager and tester is closely monitoring the US’ tariff policy before making any capacity adjustments, a company official said ASE Technology Holding Inc (日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packager and tester, yesterday said it is cautiously evaluating new advanced packaging capacity expansion in the US in response to customers’ requests amid uncertainties about the US’ tariff policy. Compared with its semiconductor peers, ASE has been relatively prudent about building new capacity in the US. However, the company is adjusting its global manufacturing footprint expansion after US President Donald Trump announced “reciprocal” tariffs in April, and new import duties targeting semiconductors and other items that are vital to national security. ASE subsidiary Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) is participating in Nvidia
RSS