Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), the world’s largest contract notebook PC maker, has signed a patent licensing agreement with Microsoft Corp, in which it would pay royalties to the software giant when it produces tablets, smartphones or other consumer devices running Android or Chrome platforms.
Microsoft made the announcement on Friday in a statement, without revealing the licensing fee.
That means Quanta is following in the footsteps of other Taiwanese hardware makers, such as HTC Corp (宏達電), Wistron Corp (緯創) and Acer Inc (宏碁), South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co and the US’ ViewSonic and Velocity Micro Inc, as well as Japan’s Onkyo Corp, in paying royalties to Microsoft to use the two open platforms developed by Google Inc.
According to the Chinese-language Commercial Times, Quanta is the contract maker of the PlayBook from Research In Motion Ltd and the Kindle Fire from Amazon, and has to pay royalties for both.
The paper cited industry estimates that Microsoft will make between NT$500 million (US$16.5 million) and NT$1 billion in royalties from Quanta this year based on the expected combined shipments of 6 million units of the PlayBook and Kindle Fire.
The calculation was derived from HTC’s reportedly paying between US$2 and US$5 per Android smartphone to Microsoft, the paper said.
Since Microsoft launched its intellectual property (IP) licensing program in December 2003, the company has inked more than 700 licensing agreements.
“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Quanta, and proud of the continued success of our Android licensing program in resolving IP issues -surrounding Android and Chrome devices in the marketplace,” Microsoft Intellectual Property Group vice president and deputy general counsel Horacio Gutierrez said in the statement.
HTC, the world’s No. 5 smartphone brand, in April last year said it would pay Microsoft to license a series of patents that cover technology in HTC cellphones that use Google’s popular Android operating system.
Microsoft has declined to say which of its patents are relevant to Android and Chrome.
According to IDG News, some analysts have speculated that Microsoft is potentially earning more revenue through licensing to Android smartphone makers than it is through licensing its Windows Phone operating system.
That is because IDG projected Android to have a 39.5 percent of the smartphone operating system market share this year, compared with 5.5 percent for Windows Phone.
Microsoft, which says that Android infringes its patents, is suing Motorola Mobility and Barnes & Noble, the maker of Nook e--readers, on the IP violation issue.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
PRECEDENTED TIMES: In news that surely does not shock, AI and tech exports drove a banner for exports last year as Taiwan’s economic growth experienced a flood tide Taiwan’s exports delivered a blockbuster finish to last year with last month’s shipments rising at the second-highest pace on record as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and advanced computing remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Exports surged 43.4 percent from a year earlier to US$62.48 billion last month, extending growth to 26 consecutive months. Imports climbed 14.9 percent to US$43.04 billion, the second-highest monthly level historically, resulting in a trade surplus of US$19.43 billion — more than double that of the year before. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) described the performance as “surprisingly outstanding,” forecasting export growth
RSS