Acer Inc (宏碁) plans to unveil its first virtual reality (VR) product for consumers in the first half of this year, chief executive officer Jason Chen (陳俊聖) said yesterday.
“Acer has been conducting research and development [R&D] of VR technologies for a while... We are planning to introduce some new technologies to surprise everyone,” Chen told reporters.
While continuing with its R&D of VR technologies, the company is thinking about potential business models that it can develop in the field, Chen said.
Photo: CNA
The VR industry is new and requires a wide range of applications and the establishment of a supporting ecosystem, Chen said.
“We are thinking of how to expand Acer’s reach in the field and turn our VR technologies into a business. And that is an important element in the process of Acer’s corporate transformation,” he said.
Commenting on Acer’s core business, Chen said that the company’s notebook business in western Europe is “not bad” despite global economic uncertainties.
“Acer is doing quite well in matured west European markets, especially in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as the economies there are more stable than in other countries,” he said.
Notebook demand in countries heavily reliant on the export of natural resources — such as Brazil and Russia — was affected by the continued fall in global crude oil prices, Chen said.
He said that Acer has been careful in monitoring profitability in those markets, but the firm is not considering suspending shipments to avoid risks.
“Acer must maintain a certain degree of market presence in those markets,” Chen said.
Acer founder and former chairman Stan Shih (施振榮) said that the company is evaluating the possibility of spinning off its cloud-computing business into automobile electronics, smart medical devices and smart homes to accelerate the firm’s years-long corporate transformation.
Separating the cloud-computing business units from the parent company might give those new businesses more flexibility and resources, he said.
Acer will discuss the spin-off plan during its board meeting at the end of next mont, he said.
Acer’s sales fell 30.09 percent year-on-year and 29.74 percent month-on-month to NT$15.87 billion (US$474.85 million) last month, it said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last