Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) yesterday said it is developing more than five devices, including smartphones and tablets, that run the Firefox mobile operating system in an effort to provide customers with new products powered by alternative, open-source software.
Foxconn’s comments came after it signed a memorandum of understanding with Firefox developer Mozilla Corp. Foxconn operates flagship company Hon Hai Precision Industry Ltd Co (鴻海精密), the world’s largest contract electronics maker, which assembles iPhones and iPads for Apple Inc.
“We will develop a series of devices from phones and tablets to TVs and outdoor signage, that are connected to the Internet,” Foxconn Innovation Digital System Business Group general manager Young Liu (劉揚偉) told a media briefing in Taipei.
“To cope with growing Web demand, we think we need to invest greater resources to facilitate the development of a third operating system in addition to Android and iOS [of Apple]. We need to provide a better solution for our customers,” Liu said.
Liu declined to reveal the timetable for the product launches of the new devices, saying that it would be the decision of Foxconn’s customers.
“Hon Hai will not make any branded products,” Liu said. “We hope our solution can help PC brands become more competitive in the post-PC era.”
The Firefox operating system is based on HTML5, one of the main markup languages for creating Web pages and information that can be displayed in a Web brewer.
Firefox, which has a 20 percent market share, is the second-biggest Web browser around the globe, after Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
As part of its efforts to facilitate the development of the Firefox system, Foxconn planned to hire between 500 and 1,000 engineers by the end of this year in Greater Kaohsiung to help develop the Firefox-based operating system, applications and backstage management system, which process data and documents, Liu said.
Foxconn is scheduled to set up a data center in Greater Kaohsiung by the end of the year, he added.
Mozilla senior vice president Li Gong (宮力) said 18 telecom operators and five electronics producers, including Chinese handset maker Huawei Technology (華為), Japan’s Sony and LG of South Korea have announced that they planned to develop devices running the Firefox system.
Among them, Chinese handset makers ZTE Inc (中興) and TCL, which sells handsets under the Alcatel brand, were scheduled to launch their Firefox-based devices in the summer, Gong said.
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco), the Saudi state-owned oil giant, yesterday posted first-quarter profits of US$26 billion, down 4.6 percent from the prior year as falling global oil prices undermine the kingdom’s multitrillion-dollar development plans. Aramco had revenues of US$108.1 billion over the quarter, the company reported in a filing on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange. The company saw US$107.2 billion in revenues and profits of US$27.2 billion for the same period last year. Saudi Arabia has promised to invest US$600 billion in the US over the course of US President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump, who is set to touch
SKEPTICAL: An economist said it is possible US and Chinese officials would walk away from the meeting saying talks were productive, without reducing tariffs at all US President Donald Trump hailed a “total reset” in US-China trade relations, ahead of a second day of talks yesterday between top officials from Washington and Beijing aimed at de-escalating trade tensions sparked by his aggressive tariff rollout. In a Truth Social post early yesterday, Trump praised the “very good” discussions and deemed them “a total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner.” The second day of closed-door meetings between US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) were due to restart yesterday morning, said a person familiar
RSS