With the launch of the Windows 8 operating system by Microsoft Corp, shares of the US company’s Taiwanese partners, including PC vendor Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) and contract notebook computer maker Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), scored significant share gains yesterday, dealers said.
Shares of Asustek gained 2.39 percent to close at NT$300 and Quanta rose 5.57 percent to end at NT$68.20, while the benchmark TAIEX was up 0.61 percent at 9,046.28 points, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Microsoft debuted Windows 8 on Thursday at Computex Taipei, the world’s second-largest computer fair. The company’s vice president, Mike Angiulo, displayed the operating system on tablet, notebook and desktop computers made by manufacturers such as Asustek, Quanta, Dell Inc, Samsung Electronics Co and Hewlett-Packard Co.
Photo: Chen Ping-hung, Taipei Times
Investors in Taiwan have high hopes that the new Microsoft operating system will help challenge Apple’s iPads in the global market and will boost the profitability of Microsoft’s local partners, dealers said.
“The Windows 8 operating system integrates the functions of tablet and notebook computers. Many investors are hoping this integration will be well received by consumers and will put the product in fierce competition with iPads,” MasterLink Securities (元富證券) analyst Tom Tang said.
“The current buying in Asustek and Quanta clearly shows optimism, in particular after Microsoft chose to preview the new product at Computex,” Tang said.
Tang said the gains appeared particularly significant in light of Thursday’s sell-off in the local bellwether electronics sector after a plunge on Wall Street. Foreign institutional investors were probably short-covering the stocks, he said.
As shares of Acer Inc (宏碁), one of the world’s leading PC vendors, were seriously hit by a massive write-off to clear inventory and disputed accounts receivable in its Europe, Middle East and -Africa -operations, funds are shifting to safe havens like Asustek and Quanta, he said.
Quanta shares were also boosted by the company’s recent disposal of its remaining 1.4 percent stake in battery maker Simplo Technology Co (新普科技), which will enable the company to book NT$682 million in gains, dealers said.
For Quanta, Tang said, some foreign institutional investors have issued a target price of as much as NT$80 on an optimistic earnings outlook. They are also upbeat about the company’s efforts to develop cloud computing technology, he said.
Goldman Sachs said in a report yesterday that it prefers Quanta over rival Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), citing the former’s continuing growth momentum driven by Apple notebook -computer orders and cloud computing products.
Acer extended its losses from the previous session, dropping 2.31 percent to NT$50.70, while Compal fell 1.01 percent to NT$34.15, the stock exchange’s data showed.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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],”