Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) is to launch the second generation of its ZenWatch and six smart home devices this quarter in a bid to expand the company’s reach in the Internet of Things (IoT) area, the company said yesterday.
“The global IoT market in still in its early stages, but Asustek sees great business potential in this area,” company spokesman Nick Wu (吳長榮) said by telephone.
Wu said the company had sold “a few hundred thousand” units of its first generation of ZenWatch since it was launched in December last year, while another production line, the VivoWatch, also shipped “a few hundred thousands” units since it hit the shelves in May.
ZenWatch targets business clients, while VivoWatch offer more health-monitoring functions, Asustek said.
Wu said the second-generation ZenWatch will have two versions of different display sizes, and the two models have been certified by the National Communications Commission (NCC).
After launching an IP camera and an event data recorder last quarter, Asus Cloud Corp (華碩雲端), Asustek’s subsidiary, also plans to introduce six smart home devices this quarter, a company executive said.
“The company plans to launch a series of IoT products to boost the number of registered users using Asus’ cloud-computing storage,” Asus Cloud chief executive officer Peter Wu (吳漢章) told the Taipei-Shanghai forum in Shanghai on Tuesday.
There are nearly 10,000 registered users of Asus’ Internet-connected surveillance products, he said, adding that by increasing the number of registered users, the company could gradually expand the ecosystem of its IoT products.
He said that apart from the six smart home devices, such as a smart door lock and smart temperature sensor, Asus Cloud plans to introduce IoT devices that focus on audio and video entertainment later this year.
Asus Cloud also tapped into remote heathcare services, Wu said, adding that the company secured a bid from the Ministry of Health and Welfare at the end of last quarter to offer remote healthcare services to 12 cities and counties in Taiwan.
Wu said the ministry allocated an annual budget of NT$10 million (US$306,109) to the firm, adding that it is jointly working with Taipei Show Chwan Hospital (秀傳醫院) and Taiwan Secom Co (中興保全) on the project.
Asustek shares yesterday dropped 0.55 percent to NT$273.5 in Taipei trading, outperforming the TAIEX, which lost 1.9 percent.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six