Inventec Corp (英業達) chairman Richard Lee (李詩欽) yesterday confirmed the company is making Xiaomi Inc’s (小米) first notebook computer product in China, with shipments set to begin in the first half of next year.
“I am upbeat about the business outlook for Xiaomi’s notebook computers, as the firm has more than 200 million registered smartphone users,” Lee told reporters on the sidelines of the 12th cross-strait forum on technical standards for information technology held in New Taipei City.
Lee said Xiaomi is likely to adopt the same smartphone business strategy for its laptop products — which is different from other companies’ conventional way of selling servers, desktop and notebook computers.
“I am not sure if the smartphone approach will be applicable to notebooks, but I expect Xiaomi’s entry into the notebook industry to bring something new to the market,” Lee said.
Subsidiary Inventec Appliance Corp (英華達), which assembles Xiaomi’s smartphones, is to jointly design and manufacture the Chinese company’s first notebook products in Inventec’s plants in China, Lee said.
“We will start shipping Xiaomi’s notebook computers in the first or second quarter of next year,” he added.
Commenting on Inventec’s near-term business outlook, Lee said next quarter’s sales are likely to be flat or even decline from this quarter, because of few product launches by its clients.
“Given that some of Inventec’s clients are scheduled to launch new products at the end of next quarter, sales contributions from the new products will be limited next quarter, but should become significant next year,” he said.
Inventec president Huang Kuo-chun (黃國鈞) last month said that sales for this quarter would grow significantly from the second quarter’s NT$90.62 billion (US$2.75 billion), supported by growing orders for commercial notebooks, smart devices and servers.
Local media have reported that Inventec is joining the supply chain of US company Fitbit Inc’s wearable products as a joint design manufacturer.
Lee did not confirm or deny such speculation, but said the company would start shipping wearable products for a new client next quarter.
Overall, the company’s combined sales in the second half of this year would still be better than the NT$179.99 billion it made in the first half of this year, he said.
Inventec shares rose 1.2 percent to close at NT$16.90 in Taipei trading yesterday, outperforming the TAIEX, which edged up 0.71 percent.
The London Metal Exchange (LME) discovered bags of stones instead of the nickel that underpinned a handful of its contracts at a warehouse in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in a revelation that would deliver another blow to confidence in the embattled exchange. The amount of metal represents just 0.14 percent of live nickel inventories on the LME, worth about US$1.3 million at current prices, so the immediate effect on the metals markets is limited. However, the shock announcement has much wider implications. In an industry riddled with scandals, the LME’s contracts are viewed as unquestionably safe. The news that even a few of
Oil on Friday posted its worst weekly loss since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic as banking turmoil poisoned investor sentiment. West Texas Intermediate for April delivery dropped 2.36 percent to US$66.74 per barrel, falling 12.96 percent for the week, the largest drop in almost three years. Brent crude for May delivery fell 2.32 percent to US$72.97, posting a weekly loss of 11.85 percent. The failure of Silicon Valley Bank and troubles at Credit Suisse Group AG drove investors from risk assets, with oil-options covering accelerating the sell-off. “Crude action this week reminded many of how quickly the commodity can be decimated by
Huawei Technologies Co (華為) has replaced more than 13,000 parts in its products that were hit by US trade sanctions, the Chinese tech giant’s founder said, according to a speech transcript from last month posted on Friday by a Chinese university. Ren Zhengfei (任正非) said Huawei had over the past three years replaced the 13,000 components with domestic Chinese substitutes, and had redesigned 4,000 circuit boards for its products, the transcript posted by Shanghai Jiao Tong University said. “As of now, our circuit board [production] has stabilized, because we have a supply of domestically produced components,” Ren said. He did not give details
SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT: The international trade group said the sector would recover from a slump, with spending expected to rise 4.2 percent to US$24.9 billion Taiwan is to retain its position as the top spender on semiconductor front-end equipment and facilities next year, with spending expected to increase 4.2 percent year-on-year to US$24.9 billion, international trade group SEMI said yesterday. The spending forecast matches an expected recovery in global semiconductor equipment and facilities investment next year, it said. International equipment spending is to return to growth next year, SEMI said in a report, forecasting 21 percent growth to US$92 billion. The expansion would manly be driven by robust demand for semiconductors in the automotive and high-performance computing segments, the association said. “This quarter’s SEMI World Fab Forecast update