Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店), the nation’s second-largest convenience store operator, yesterday announced that it has launched a presale of two of Vizio Inc’s Internet TVs, with sales targeted to reach 1,500 units in one month.
Vizio, which contracts Taiwan’s Amtran Technology Co (瑞軒科技) to manufacture its TVs, has put two sizes of LED televisions — with 32-inch and 47-inch screens — up for sale at FamilyMart stores, priced at NT$11,999 and NT$24,999 respectively, the convenience store chain said in a statement.
EXPERIENCED
FamilyMart has previous experience with television set presales, having organized presales of Internet TVs by Taiwan Kolin Co (歌林) in July.
In that month, 1,500 units of Kolin televisions were sold at FamilyMart stores, the store operator said in a statement.
Sales of 42-inch models accounted for more than 60 percent of overall sales, indicating that large-screen televisions remain the most preferred TV among consumers compared with their smaller counterparts, FamilyMart said.
RIVALRY
FamilyMart’s initiative to sell LED TVs came after its main rival, President Chain Store Corp (統一超商) — which operates more than 4,800 7-Eleven stores nationwide — teamed up with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (鴻海精密) in June to tap the TV market through its online shopping portal 7net.
Hon Hai manufactures three Internet TV sets for President Chain under the brand of the convenience store chain’s cartoon mascot, Open.
Total unit sales for the three models have exceeded 10,000 units since their launch, President Chain said.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is