US search engine giant Google Inc expects to launch its Chrome operating system (OS) this fall in conjunction with PC original electronics manufacturers (OEMs), including those from Taiwan, a company executive told a media briefing yesterday in Taipei.
Google would not consider launching its own open-source Chrome computer systems as some local Chinese-language newspapers reported yesterday, citing speculation from Microsoft Corp vice president Steve Guggenheimer.
“As Google has been interested in scale, we want to reach hundreds of millions of users and hundreds of countries. And so our plan is to work within the [software] ecosystem to bring the devices to the market,” said Sundar Pichai, a Google vice president in charge of Chrome projects, in a media briefing during his first visit to Taipei.
Google’s Chrome projects include the OS and the Chrome Web browser, which was released last year.
“We have worked with selected OEMs; we have been working extensively with people in Taiwan ... We are getting ready to bring the Chrome OS to the market by fall,” Pichai said.
Pichai declined to disclose how many Chrome computers are in the pipeline for launch later this year or next year.
The announcement would be made from Google’s partners and OEMs, he said.
He said that the Chrome OS would focus on laptops with screen sizes ranging between 10 inches and 12 inches, which is different from the Android system, which uses smaller form factors such as smartphones and tablet devices.
Google will not charge for Chrome certification, but PC companies would have to talk to Google if they want to market their laptops using the Google name, Pichai said.
In addition, Pichai said that the upcoming Google TV would run on the Android operating system and Chrome Web browser.
He said Google TV would provide the same business opportunities to the software ecosystem in Taiwan over time as its Chrome and Android projects.
RUN IT BACK: A succesful first project working with hyperscalers to design chips encouraged MediaTek to start a second project, aiming to hit stride in 2028 MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it is engaging a second hyperscaler to help design artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators used in data centers following a similar project expected to generate revenue streams soon. The first AI accelerator project is to bring in US$1 billion revenue next year and several billion US dollars more in 2027, MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told a virtual investor conference yesterday. The second AI accelerator project is expected to contribute to revenue beginning in 2028, Tsai said. MediaTek yesterday raised its revenue forecast for the global AI accelerator used
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has secured three construction permits for its plan to build a state-of-the-art A14 wafer fab in Taichung, and is likely to start construction soon, the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, Wang Chun-chieh (王俊傑), deputy director general of the science park bureau, said the world’s largest contract chipmaker has received three construction permits — one to build a fab to roll out sophisticated chips, another to build a central utility plant to provide water and electricity for the facility and the other to build three office buildings. With the three permits, TSMC
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
RSS