Microsoft Corp has asked chipmakers that want to use the next version of Windows for tablets to work with no more than one computer manufacturer, three people with knowledge of the plan said.
Chipmakers and computer makers that agree to the terms will get incentives from Microsoft in exchange for accepting the restrictions, which tie a single chipmaker to one tablet design, said the people, who declined to be identified because the new program hasn’t been made public.
Seeking to limit variations may help Microsoft speed the delivery of new Windows tablets by keeping tighter control over partners and accelerating development and testing. Though the program isn’t mandatory, the restrictions may impede chip and computer makers from building a variety of Windows-based models to vie with Apple Inc’s iPad, the people said.
In past versions of Windows software, chipmakers could work with multiple computer manufacturers.
“Microsoft is still in the development process on the next version of Windows, continuing the engineering work with our silicon partners as part of the technology preview we talked about in January,” Microsoft said in an e-mailed statement.
“We continue to talk regularly with hardware partners around the world as part of our development process,” it said.
Under the plan being proposed by Microsoft, a given chipmaker would have to ally itself with a single PC manufacturer to qualify for certain incentives. Those may include features that ensure the device runs better or lower prices for the software, one of the people said.
Acer Inc (宏碁) chairman and CEO J.T. Wang (王振堂) in an interview on Tuesday at the Computex trade show in Taipei said Microsoft was trying to set limits on other companies. He didn’t specify the restrictions.
“They’re really controlling the whole thing, the whole process,” Wang said of Microsoft.
“They try to set the game rules,” he said, and chip suppliers and PC makers “all feel it’s very troublesome.”
This is the first time Microsoft has produced a Windows operating system that works with ARM Holdings PLC’s technology, increasing the number of potential chip suppliers. The program seeking to pair one chipmaker with one computer maker might increase the chances of initial success by enabling the company to focus efforts on a smaller number of designs.
Still, the rules may constrain chipmakers’ ability to have their products featured in a range of devices. Computer manufacturers whose designs aren’t chosen may be left out, one of the people said.
Under Microsoft’s program, chip suppliers will also be able to select a second computer maker for clamshell-style notebook computers that use the new operating system, one of the people said. Chipmakers for the new version of Windows, including Intel Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Nvidia Corp, Qualcomm Inc and Texas Instruments Inc, can also decline to be part of the program and work with whichever computer makers they want.
The program only applies to the version of Windows that’s being tailored for mobile computers, the person said. The regular version of Windows for desktop PCs will have no such limits, as with past versions of Windows.
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
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
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