In an attempt to reduce tariff expense and to meet the rising smartphone demand in Indonesia, Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) plans to increase the localization of smartphone manufacturing in that nation from 75 percent this year to 100 percent next year, it said yesterday.
“Asustek started to work with Indonesian manufacturer PT Sat Nusapersada Tbk on production of the ZenFone models at its factory in Surabaya in the second quarter,” Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) said by telephone.
Indonesia is Asustek’s largest overseas market for smartphones, with handset shipments reaching more than 300,000 units per month, Wu said, adding that it is a necessary move for the company to increase local production.
The PC maker last quarter beat Chinese smartphone vendor Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀移動) in the Indonesian smartphone market, securing the fifth-largest position in the market with an 8.8 percent share, according to market researcher Counterpoint.
Asustek chief executive officer Jerry Shen (沈振來) last month told reporters that the company aims to ship 3 million to 4 million handsets in Indonesia this year and aims to sell 5 million smartphones in that nation next year.
“We aim to have a 15 percent share of the Indonesian smartphone market next year,” Shen said.
As part of the efforts to achieve the sales goal and reduce tariff costs, Asustek is in talks with contract handset maker Arima Communication Corp (華冠通訊) to make the ZenFone models at Arima’s plant in Indonesia, a source at Asustek who is familiar with the matter told the Taipei Times.
“We have contacted Arima, but the details have not been finalized,” the source said.
Asustek’s peer Acer Inc (宏碁), which took the 10th spot in the Indonesian smartphone market, has also partnered with an Indonesian equipment manufacturing services (EMS) provider to make its smartphone products, Acer smartphone business group president S.T. Liew (劉思泰) said.
The company is to unveil the details of an agreement between the firm and an Indonesian EMS provider this month or next month, Liew told reporters on the sidelines of IFA Berlin.
HTC Corp (宏達電) is reportedly in talks with Arima to make smartphones in Indonesia.
When asked if HTC is looking to partner with Indonesian manufacturers to produce handsets there, the company said: “We do not confirm or deny this possibility at the moment.”
Asustek shares rose 1.03 percent to NT$294 in Taipei trading yesterday, while HTC’s stock price surged 6.52 percent to NT$63.7. Acer shares dropped 1.07 percent to close at NT$13.85.
UNCERTAINTIES: Exports surged 34.1% and private investment grew 7.03% to outpace expectations in the first half, although US tariffs could stall momentum The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) yesterday raised its GDP growth forecast to 3.05 percent this year on a robust first-half performance, but warned that US tariff threats and external uncertainty could stall momentum in the second half of the year. “The first half proved exceptionally strong, allowing room for optimism,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “But the growth momentum may slow moving forward due to US tariffs.” The tariff threat poses definite downside risks, although the scale of the impact remains unclear given the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s policies, Lien said. Despite the headwinds, Taiwan is likely
When Lika Megreladze was a child, life in her native western Georgian region of Guria revolved around tea. Her mother worked for decades as a scientist at the Soviet Union’s Institute of Tea and Subtropical Crops in the village of Anaseuli, Georgia, perfecting cultivation methods for a Georgian tea industry that supplied the bulk of the vast communist state’s brews. “When I was a child, this was only my mum’s workplace. Only later I realized that it was something big,” she said. Now, the institute lies abandoned. Yellowed papers are strewn around its decaying corridors, and a statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin
UNIFYING OPPOSITION: Numerous companies have registered complaints over the potential levies, bringing together rival automakers in voicing their reservations US President Donald Trump is readying plans for industry-specific tariffs to kick in alongside his country-by-country duties in two weeks, ramping up his push to reshape the US’ standing in the global trading system by penalizing purchases from abroad. Administration officials could release details of Trump’s planned 50 percent duty on copper in the days before they are set to take effect on Friday next week, a person familiar with the matter said. That is the same date Trump’s “reciprocal” levies on products from more than 100 nations are slated to begin. Trump on Tuesday said that he is likely to impose tariffs
Japan is heavily investing in a new kind of ultra-thin, flexible solar panel that it hopes will help it meet renewable energy goals while challenging China’s dominance of the sector. Pliable perovskite panels are perfect for mountainous Japan, with its shortage of flat plots for traditional solar farms. A key component of the panels is iodine, something Japan produces more of than any country but Chile. The push faces some obstacles: Perovskite panels contain toxic lead, and, for now, produce less power and have shorter lifespans than their silicon counterparts. Still, with a goal of net zero by 2050 and a desire to