Taiwanese PC makers Acer Inc (宏碁) and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday said that they would closely monitor currency fluctuations and microeconomic changes in European markets following Britain’s decision to leave the EU.
“The immediate impact [of the referendum] on enterprises would be volatility in the foreign-exchange market, which Acer will monitor closely to respond in a cautious manner,” Acer chief executive officer Jason Chen (陳俊聖) told reporters after the company’s annual general meeting in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止).
The pound’s decline against the US dollar and the sharp depreciation of the euro against the greenback are expected to affect consumer confidence and suppress the spending capability of European consumers, Chen said.
Chen said Acer is planning to improve its research and development capabilities to launch breakthrough products in the European market as a medium and long-term measure against the effects of Britain’s exit from the EU.
In an attempt to secure Acer’s position in the European market, Chen said the company plans to focus its brand management, raising the company’s brand image to boost sales of high-price and high-quality products.
Chen said that the market share and average selling price of Acer PCs topped the rankings in Germany, according to market research in April.
The research suggested that Acer’s brand image has improved in the German market and consumers there are willing to accept and purchase Acer’s higher-priced and higher-valued products, Chen said, adding that Acer plans to replicate its success in Germany in other European nations by improving its brand image.
Asustek said that the outcome of the British referendum should have limited effects on the firm in the short term, as its European sales management team has been closely monitoring market dynamics and have been checking currency exposure risks in the past few weeks.
Asustek leads the European notebook computer market with a share of 15 to 20 percent, the company said.
Revenues from the eurozone accounted for more than 20 percent of Asustek’s total notebook sales, the company said, adding that it would be more cautious when drafting the firm’s operational strategy and quoting prices to retail channels in European markets.
Smartphone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) said Britain’s decision to leave EU would not have significant effects on HTC’s operations, because it is a global company with operations across the world.
However, Innolux Corp (群創) chairman Wang Jyh-chau (王志超) said he is worried that Britain’s decision to leave the economic block would dash nascent recovery in the LCD panel industry, which has seen demand finally recover this quarter, following a prolonged slump that started in the third quarter of last year.
MediaTek Inc chairman Tsai Ming-kai (蔡明介) said the impact of Brexit would largely depend on weather the issue spreads to other EU members, causing consumers there to be more cautious about their spending on smartphones and other consumer electronics.
Additional reporting by Lisa Wang
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