Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s second-largest PC brand, is studying the feasibility of setting up a third operational hub, in Beijing, in a move to expand its service network in China.
“Rivals such as Hewlett-Packard Co [HP] are expanding quickly in China with many branches ... We are setting up bases to extend our services faster to the massive amount of customers in China,” a company source said.
HP has nine offices in China, spanning from its headquarters in Beijing to branches in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang and Chengdu, according to the firm’s Web site.
PHOTO: CHEN PING-HUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Dell Inc, the third-largest brand, behind HP and Acer, also plans to expand its production and operations center in Chengdu, Steve Schuckenbrock, president of the company’s large enterprise division, said on Nov. 4 in Hong Kong, according to Bloomberg Newswires.
Acer just announced early this month that it would ink an agreement with the Chongqing municipal government next month to establish its second operational base in China. The new branch is scheduled to begin operations early next year.
Its other base is located in Shanghai.
FOUNDER TECHNOLOGY
“China has great opportunities for us in terms of desktop growth, not to mention we have already partnered with Founder [Technology Group Corp (方正)],” the Acer source added.
Acer announced in August it would pay US$67.5 million for a license to use Shanghai-based Founder’s PC-related trademarks for seven years.
Acer will pay a further 51 million yuan (US$7.7 million) for information technology systems, copyrights and patents from Founder’s PC business and 68 million yuan to utilize Founder’s customer-service and retail operations to sell Acer products.
To cope with its expanding desktop business, Acer has enlisted extra contract makers, such as Elitegroup Computer Systems Co (精英), Wistron Corp (緯創) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), in addition to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), according to Scott Lin (林顯郎), Acer’s president for Taiwan operations.
EMERGING MARKETS
Acer has said it is eyeing emerging markets, such as China and Brazil, for its future growth.
It aims to double revenue to US$1.5 billion in China, with next year’s sales to hit US$2.5 billion, chairman Wang Jeng-tang (王振堂) has said.
The company has even deployed engineers in Beijing and Shanghai to specifically design products that cater to local tastes.
Meanwhile, Acer is poised to unveil 7-inch and 10-inch tablet PCs in New York next week.
The company has projects on tablets that run on Android 2.2, MeeGo and Windows 7 operating systems, but it has kept details of the final product confidential, an internal source said.
The tablets are expected to support 3G for phone conversations, among other features.
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