HTC Corp (宏達電), the world’s No. 3 mobile phone maker by market value, yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with an Asian telecom operator to supply it with smartphones and tablets, paving the way for greater momentum in its Asian business.
Conexus Mobile Alliance will engage HTC to design smart devices for its 11 telecoms operator members that have a pool of 310 million subscribers in Asia, Edward Kwok (郭詠邦), Conexus Mobile Alliance chairman, told -reporters at a signing.
“We want to explore iconic devices to further enrich the mobile data experience for our subscribers,” he said. “This MOU will enhance our members’ current handset portfolios and enable them to take advantage of future technology imperatives.”
He declined to offer specifics on how many HTC phones alliance members are likely to purchase, but said HTC tablets and newer models running on the 4G Long Term Evolution standard could be part of the deals.
Established in 2006, Conexus has members spanning Far Eas-Tone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), Hong Kong’s Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd (和記電訊國際), South Korea’s KT Corp, Japan’s NTT DoCoMo, Indonesia’s PT Indosat, the Philippines’ Smart Communications Inc and Singapore’s StarHub Pte Ltd.
The alliance aims to be Asia’s leading mobile coalition with a focus on creating common platforms in international roaming, corporate services and value-added services.
One of the achievements it touts is the establishment of a daily data flat-rate plan of no more than US$20 for subscribers roaming within the member networks, according to Kwok, who doubles as a senior vice president at Hutchison Telecommunications.
HTC CEO Peter Chou (周永明) has declared this year its “Asian Year,” as the company seeks a source of growth outside of its anchor market in Europe.
HTC, which overtook Nokia Group early last month to become the third-largest global phone maker by market value, plans to increase the number of retail booths and outlets in China from 445 to 2,000 by December, Ray Yam (任偉光), who joined HTC in January as company’s head in China, told the China Daily last month.
HTC will team up with Chinese electronics chain stores, such as Suning Corp (蘇寧電器) and GOME Electrical Appliances Holdings Ltd (國美電器), as well as smaller local electronic retailers in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
HTC — which only entered China in July last year — also plans to use the Internet to promote its cellphones and may set up an online store on Taobao.com (淘寶網), China’s biggest online retail Web site by transactions, in the second half, Yam said.
HTC yesterday said in a statement that revenue was NT$38.7 billion (US$1.3 billion) last month, up 113.41 percent year-on-year. Accumulated revenue from January to last month was NT$142.9 billion, up 154.7 percent from a year earlier.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”