Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (FET, 遠傳電信) yesterday launched wireless smart speakers, the latest of many new gadgets other than mobile phones that the telecom is using to boost subscriptions to mobile services as mobile phone replacement cycles lengthen.
As part of its strategic shift, the telecom is looking to devices that incorporate the Internet of Things (IoT), big data and artificial intelligence (AI) as new revenue drivers, because revenue from wireless connectivity is falling due to cutthroat competition.
The smart speakers are the first consumer IoT device that the telecom has unveiled toward achieving that goal, the company said.
Along with smart speakers launched earlier last year, Far EasTone this year aims to triple the sale of smart home gadgets, consumer business unit vice president Belinda Chen (陳萍坽) told reporters yesterday.
The company said it has sold about 20,000 smart speakers since their launch in June last year.
Chen said her confidence is based on the rapid adoption of smart speakers in the US, where the penetration rate climbed to 24 percent in just four years.
Given Taiwan’s 8 million households, Far FasTone estimates that about 2 million smart speakers could be sold over four years, Chen said, adding that the telecom aims to be the market leader.
The telecom is targeting mobile subscribers who last year switched to NT$499 service plans with unlimited 4G data without getting subsidies on mobile phones or hardware.
As a growing number of subscribers prefer subsidies on electronic devices rather than smartphones, Far EasTone said it would keep broadening its offerings to meet their needs.
The global market for smart speakers is expected to grow 63 percent year-on-year to US$7 billion this year, from US$4.3 billion last year, making it the fastest-growing category of connected devices in history, a forecast by accounting firm Deloitte showed.
Shipments of smart speakers are expected to increase to 164 million units this year, up 67 percent from 98 million units last year, Deloitte said last month in its annual report on technology, media and telecommunications trends.
Far EasTone subscribers can get a free smart speaker when subscribing to a 4G service plan with a 30 or 24-month contract.
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s biggest telecom, yesterday said it has set up a task force, or “strategic transformation office,” to concentrate resources on growth in 5G, Internet-only banking, IoT, big data, AI and smart home businesses.
The firm said it expects to see results within three years.
SECOND-RATE: Models distilled from US products do not perform the same as the original and undo measures that ensure the systems are neutral, the US’ cable said The US Department of State has ordered a global push to bring attention to what it said are widespread efforts by Chinese companies, including artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek (深度求索), to steal intellectual property from US AI labs, according to a diplomatic cable. The cable, dated Friday and sent to diplomatic and consular posts around the world, instructs diplomatic staff to speak to their foreign counterparts about “concerns over adversaries’ extraction and distillation of US AI models.” Distillation is the process of training smaller AI models using output from larger, more expensive ones to lower the costs of training a powerful new
Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) have repeatedly hit new highs, but an equity analyst said the stock’s valuation remains within a reasonable range and any pullback would likely be technical. The contract chipmaker’s historical price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio has ranged between 20 and 30, Cathay Futures Consultant Co (國泰證期) analyst Tsai Ming-han (蔡明翰) told Central News Agency. With market consensus projecting that TSMC would post earnings per share of about NT$100 (US$3.17) this year, supported by strong global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, and the stock currently trading at a P/E ratio of below 25, Tsai said the valuation
The artificial intelligence (AI) boom has triggered a seismic reshuffling of global equity markets, with Taiwan and South Korea muscling past European nations one by one. With its stock market now valued at nearly US$4.3 trillion, Taiwan surpassed the UK, Europe’s biggest market, earlier this month, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. South Korea is about US$140 billion away from doing the same. The tech-heavy Asian markets have shot past Germany and France in the past seven months. The shift is largely down to massive gains in shares of three companies that provide essential hardware for AI: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電),
The US Department of Commerce last week ordered multiple chip equipment companies to halt shipments of certain tools to China’s second-largest chipmaker, Hua Hong Semiconductor Ltd (華虹半導體), its latest action to slow the country’s development of advanced chips, two people familiar with the matter said. The department sent letters to at least a handful of companies informing them of restrictions on tools and other materials destined for two Hua Hong facilities US officials believe make China’s most sophisticated chips, the people said. Top US chip equipment companies Lam Research Corp, Applied Materials Inc and KLA Corp, each of which has significant
RSS