Acer Inc (宏碁) has no plan to raise its prices as PC inventories are still high, company chief executive officer Jason Chen (陳俊聖) said yesterday.
Chen’s remarks came after reports that the market leader, Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想), is planning to raise its PC prices in China and Southeast Asia to reflect the depreciation of the Chinese yuan. Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) also said it will follow suit if necessary.
“The inventory level of the five major PC vendors is still high in the market. They [Lenovo and Asustek] would not raise prices unless they really are on the verge of losing money,” Chen told reporters on the sidelines of an Internet of Things forum in Taipei.
Chen said Acer has worked to reduced its inventories since the beginning of this year, with levels now lower than its peers.
However, all PC companies need to work harder on their inventory adjustments amid the softer-than-expected PC demand this year, he said.
Other than the inventory issue, the volatility of foreign currencies in Europe and emerging markets still weighs on Acer’s sales performance, Chen said, as the depreciation of local currencies would affect consumer spending.
As for renewed purchases of PC products after Microsoft Corp’s new operating system hit the market at the end of last month, Chen said he is cautious over whether Windows 10 could really boost replacement demand in the market.
“It is still too early to tell,” he said.
Chen also said that Acer has no plan to carry out a share repurchase program despite its stock price being rocked by the volatile market over the past few days, even though Acer’s founder and former chairman Stan Shih (施振榮) said moves like that could safeguard shareholders’ interests.
The company’s shares closed at a historical low of NT$9.71 in Taipei trading on Monday, below its par value. They ended at NT$11.15 yesterday.
“Share buyback could only bring a positive effect for a short period of time. There are other ways to protect shareholders’ interests, such as cash dividend distribution,” Chen said.
He reiterated that Acer hopes to fill its NT$1.1 billion (US$33.57 million) deficit related to share buybacks and to distribute dividends to shareholders next year.
As the company’s market value totaled NT$34.52 billion based on Taipei trading yesterday, there are speculations that the company might be acquired by rivals.
However, Shih said he is not worried.
“It is not going to be easy for them to do so as I believe no shareholders would want to sell Acer’s shares while the stock price is about NT$10,” Shih said.
The company’s shares have plunged 47.78 percent since the beginning of this year, compared with the 17.1 percent decline in the TAIEX over the same period.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
RSS