Acer wins big tender in Europe
Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday said that it has been awarded a substantial education tender by the Georgian Ministry of Education and Science to provide up to 47,000 Acer TravelMate B115 notebook computers.
It is the largest tender awarded to Acer in Europe this year, the company said.
According to the International Data Corp (IDC), Acer made significant headway in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region in the second quarter of this year, accomplishing more than 100 percent year-on-year growth in its commercial PC shipments across 11 countries.
The company’s commercial PC business in the US also recorded the best year-on-year growth among the top five brands during the second quarter, rising by 51.4 percent year-on-year compared with the industry average of 18.1 percent growth, the IDC said.
TSMC on recruitment drive
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said it would launch a big recruitment drive in the fourth quarter of the year to hire 2,200 new employees.
TSMC said the initiative is aimed at meeting its needs for advanced technology expansion and improving its research and development to maintain its lead in the global semiconductor business.
The company is seeking a wide range of talent in the technology fields as well as those specializing in information management and quality control.
Adobe shuts China R&D arm
Computer software maker Adobe Systems Inc is to shut its Chinese research and development (R&D) arm, as US technology firms face an increasingly hostile government in the world’s second-biggest economy.
The California-based company is to maintain its China sales offices, Adobe said in an e-mail yesterday, but R&D operations are to cease by the end of December.
Layoffs have already begun and are to affect more than 300 people, a person familiar with the matter told reporters.
Yahoo eyes Chinese market
Yahoo Inc yesterday released a Chinese-language version of its Aviate intelligent home screen app for Android smartphones in Taiwan as it works to improve its mobile portfolio.
First launched in the US in June, the Yahoo Aviate app automatically offers useful information at just the right moment based on data gathered that defines user preferences, according to Yahoo.
Yahoo Aviate engineering lead William Choi said the number of daily active users of the app worldwide had doubled since June, with more than half of current users outside the US.
Carrefour commits to staying
Hypermarket chain Carrefour said on Tuesday that the company would not leave Taiwan, but instead increase its investments in the country, rebutting speculation it could shut down local operations following the closing of one outlet.
Carrefour closed a store in Greater Taichung last month after shutting a store in Greater Kaohsiung last year.
Carrefour Taiwan president Patrick Ganaye said the French company would invest between NT$5 billion and NT$7 billion (US$166 million and US$231 million) in Taiwan over the next three years and also boost its online services in a bid to raise sales.
Currently, Carrefour operates 62 hypermarkets and eight smaller supermarkets in the nation.
The company forecasts that it will post NT$60 billion in sales for this year, little changed from last year’s numbers.
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing review of Grab Holdings Ltd’s US$600 million acquisition of Foodpanda Taiwan’s operations, announced on March 23, has taken on fresh urgency as industry experts warn that the transaction could embed significant Chinese cybersecurity vulnerabilities into Taiwan’s digital infrastructure through Grab’s deep ties to autonomous-driving firm WeRide (文遠知行). Less than 16 months after the FTC blocked Uber Eats’ direct attempt to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan — citing potential combined market shares of 80 to 90 percent — the emergence of Grab as the buyer has prompted questions about whether the same competitive harm is simply being rerouted
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
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