Acer wins big tender in Europe
Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday said that it has been awarded a substantial education tender by the Georgian Ministry of Education and Science to provide up to 47,000 Acer TravelMate B115 notebook computers.
It is the largest tender awarded to Acer in Europe this year, the company said.
According to the International Data Corp (IDC), Acer made significant headway in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region in the second quarter of this year, accomplishing more than 100 percent year-on-year growth in its commercial PC shipments across 11 countries.
The company’s commercial PC business in the US also recorded the best year-on-year growth among the top five brands during the second quarter, rising by 51.4 percent year-on-year compared with the industry average of 18.1 percent growth, the IDC said.
TSMC on recruitment drive
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said it would launch a big recruitment drive in the fourth quarter of the year to hire 2,200 new employees.
TSMC said the initiative is aimed at meeting its needs for advanced technology expansion and improving its research and development to maintain its lead in the global semiconductor business.
The company is seeking a wide range of talent in the technology fields as well as those specializing in information management and quality control.
Adobe shuts China R&D arm
Computer software maker Adobe Systems Inc is to shut its Chinese research and development (R&D) arm, as US technology firms face an increasingly hostile government in the world’s second-biggest economy.
The California-based company is to maintain its China sales offices, Adobe said in an e-mail yesterday, but R&D operations are to cease by the end of December.
Layoffs have already begun and are to affect more than 300 people, a person familiar with the matter told reporters.
Yahoo eyes Chinese market
Yahoo Inc yesterday released a Chinese-language version of its Aviate intelligent home screen app for Android smartphones in Taiwan as it works to improve its mobile portfolio.
First launched in the US in June, the Yahoo Aviate app automatically offers useful information at just the right moment based on data gathered that defines user preferences, according to Yahoo.
Yahoo Aviate engineering lead William Choi said the number of daily active users of the app worldwide had doubled since June, with more than half of current users outside the US.
Carrefour commits to staying
Hypermarket chain Carrefour said on Tuesday that the company would not leave Taiwan, but instead increase its investments in the country, rebutting speculation it could shut down local operations following the closing of one outlet.
Carrefour closed a store in Greater Taichung last month after shutting a store in Greater Kaohsiung last year.
Carrefour Taiwan president Patrick Ganaye said the French company would invest between NT$5 billion and NT$7 billion (US$166 million and US$231 million) in Taiwan over the next three years and also boost its online services in a bid to raise sales.
Currently, Carrefour operates 62 hypermarkets and eight smaller supermarkets in the nation.
The company forecasts that it will post NT$60 billion in sales for this year, little changed from last year’s numbers.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last