Acer Inc (宏碁) on Monday said that it is planning to unveil virtual reality (VR) backpack PCs and other peripheral devices next year to support its VR headset, the StarVR.
Jerry Kao (高樹國), president of Acer’s IT products business, said the efforts to introduce VR backpack PCs and other related devices are aimed at building a VR application ecology for the growing technology.
Acer has already begun shipping its StarVR headset, which it developed jointly with Swedish video game company Starbreeze AB.
The StarVR is expected to be used in a Los Angeles VR center owned by the megascreen theater company IMAX Corp by the end of this year.
IMAX, with more than 1,000 theaters in 72 nations, is the StarVR’s biggest client and is planning to set up VR centers in each of its theaters.
The VR backpack PCs and peripheral products will target the business-to-business market, Kao said, adding that Acer is hoping to work with its corporate clients to expand VR technology applications.
Acer is not the only Taiwanese company to enter the VR market.
HTC Corp (宏達電), a Taipei-based smartphone vendor, launched its first VR headset, the HTC Vive, last year and global sales of the device began in April.
PC vendor Micro-Star International Co (微星科技), one of HTC’s partners, launched the VR Onebackpack PC to support the HTC Vive. Micro-Star has described the VR One as the world’s lightest VR backpack PC.
Acer, meanwhile, introduced a series of gaming PCs, including the Predator 21 X, at the IFA consumer electronics exhibition in Europe earlier this month.
The Predator 21 X, described by some technology reviewers as a “monster” in the gaming PC market, is the first laptop with a curved display, which Kao said caters to professional gamers.
In addition to expanding into the VR business, Acer has also entered the smartphone market as part of its efforts to diversify its product portfolio amid a slow PC market, but Kao said the company’s smartphone operations are still in the red.
Acer is planning to unveil niche smartphone products that would integrate its PC and phone development resources, he said.
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