Huawei Technologies Co (華為) plans to sell its first own-branded mobile phone in the UK, taking on manufacturers using Google Inc’s Android software in one of Europe’s most competitive handset markets.
Having initially focused on making handsets for carriers, China’s largest phone-equipment supplier will introduce the Blaze device as early as next month. Huawei is targeting a market share of 4 percent to 5 percent within 12 months, said Mark Mitchinson, the company’s UK executive vice president.
“We’re trying to establish the brand, almost from scratch,” Mitchinson, who previously worked for Samsung Electronics Co and Nokia Oyj, said in an interview in London. Huawei will compete with “anyone involved in Android.”
Huawei’s push into the UK, following its first mobile network deal in the country in May, marks the company’s biggest step into devices in western Europe. Sales outside of China accounted for 65 percent of Shenzhen, China-based Huawei’s revenue last year. Sales abroad grew three times faster than in its home market.
Huawei, benefiting from the rising popularity of Android, will compete with other manufacturers who use the software. LG Electronics Inc and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, the two smallest major brands in the UK, both use the system, the best-selling smartphone platform in the second quarter after a fourfold increase in global sales, Gartner said yesterday.
“We are seeing other players that unfortunately will continue to be challenged and Sony Ericsson is one of those,” said Roberta Cozza, a UK-based analyst at Gartner Inc.
Huawei has about 1 percent share of the UK device market and that may rise to 3 percent in a year, she estimates.
Huawei will need to invest “very heavily” to compete with HTC Corp (宏達電), Asia’s second-largest phone maker, which also initially suffered from a lack of brand awareness, she said. “The problem they have is the brand. It’s a limitation for them.”
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
Taiwanese manufacturers have a chance to play a key role in the humanoid robot supply chain, Tongtai Machine and Tool Co (東台精機) chairman Yen Jui-hsiung (嚴瑞雄) said yesterday. That is because Taiwanese companies are capable of making key parts needed for humanoid robots to move, such as harmonic drives and planetary gearboxes, Yen said. This ability to produce these key elements could help Taiwanese manufacturers “become part of the US supply chain,” he added. Yen made the remarks a day after Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are jointly
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) expects its addressable market to grow by a low single-digit percentage this year, lower than the overall foundry industry’s 15 percent expansion and the global semiconductor industry’s 10 percent growth, the contract chipmaker said yesterday after reporting the worst profit in four-and-a-half years in the fourth quarter of last year. Growth would be fueled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, a moderate recovery in consumer electronics and an increase in semiconductor content, UMC said. “UMC’s goal is to outgrow our addressable market while maintaining our structural profitability,” UMC copresident Jason Wang (王石) told an online earnings
MARKET SHIFTS: Exports to the US soared more than 120 percent to almost one quarter, while ASEAN has steadily increased to 18.5 percent on rising tech sales The proportion of Taiwan’s exports directed to China, including Hong Kong, declined by more than 12 percentage points last year compared with its peak in 2020, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday last week. The decrease reflects the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, driven by escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Data compiled by the ministry showed China and Hong Kong accounted for 31.7 percent of Taiwan’s total outbound sales last year, a drop of 12.2 percentage points from a high of 43.9 percent in 2020. In addition to increasing trade conflicts between China and the US, the ministry said