Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s fourth-largest PC maker, yesterday said the board has tapped company founder and former chairman Stan Shih (施振榮) to be the chairman and interim president as the company tries to turn itself around.
Former chairman and CEO Wang Jeng-tang (王振堂) and president Jim Wong (翁建仁) stepped down with immediate effect.
In the statement, Shih said George Huang (黃少華), one of his co-founding partners at Acer, will join Acer to help lead the company during the transition.
“Chairman and chief executive officer J.T. Wang and corporate president Jim Wong have both stepped down to shoulder responsibility for the company’s recent [poor] performance,” Acer said. “The company will hand over the corporate presidency to the appropriate candidate as soon as possible.”
On Nov. 5, Acer announced that Wang had tendered his resignation as chairman and chief executive officer, after reporting third-quarter operating losses of NT$2.57 billion (US$86.97 million), bigger than the NT$613 million operating losses recorded in the previous quarter.
The company later announced Wang would retain the chairmanship until his tenure ends in June next year, while Wong would take over from Wang as Acer’s new chief executive officer from Jan. 1 next year.
However, after both Wang and Wong resigned with immediate effect, Acer’s board of directors appointed Shih chairman, until the end of his term on the board.
The board also decided to vacate the position of chief executive officer, Acer said. The chief executive officer’s duties will be handed to the chairman or president.
“This [the resolution] is expected to boost the company’s decisionmaking efficiency,” the statement said.
In the future, both Wang and Wong would act as advisers to the company to ensure a smooth transition, Acer said.
“Due to the situation Acer now faces and my personal social responsibilities, I must stand up and take the reins without salary,” Shih said.
“I will honor and complete all the public affairs and engagements that I have committed to, but I will also fully support Acer’s information and communication device business, and transform the company,” he added.
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
RSS