Adata Technology Co (威剛科技), the nation’s biggest memory module maker, yesterday announced its first commercial artificial intelligence (AI) product, a home robot, in its latest bid to diversify into the fledgling robotics market.
The voice-controlled Arobot, a robotic home companion, provides busy parents remote monitoring capabilities and educational resources for their children, Adata said.
The robot also provides care for elderly people and can remind them when to take their medicine, the company said.
“We believe robotics has a high potential to become the next US$400 billion industry by 2030, replacing the mobile phone industry... Taiwan could take a 20 percent share, given its strong position among the world’s electronics producers,” Adata chairman Simon Chen (陳立白) told a news conference.
“Robotics is a high-margin business that can help lift Adata’s profitability,” Chen said.
The 54cm-tall Arobot is to have a similar price tag — less than NT$20,000 (US$664) — as other home robots with similar specifications, while another model without a display is to be priced at less than NT$9,000, the company said.
Adata plans to take orders for Arobot from August and expects revenue from its robotics business to reach NT$1 billion within one year of its launch.
If that goal can be reached, Adata would consider spinning off the robotics business group and creating a new entity with a share listing plan in mind, Chen said, adding that the company would not rule out the possibility of an overseas initial public offering.
Adata is not the first local company to target robotics in a bid for new growth.
PC maker Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) showcased its first home robot, Zenbo, in June last year, but only started taking orders in January.
Adata invested heavily to develop its robotics business for more than two years before deciding that building a robot by itself was too much of an uphill task, Chen said.
The investment reduced its earnings per share (EPS) by NT$2 last year, Chen said.
Last year, Adata posted EPS of NT$6.21.
The company is keen to seek strategic partnerships with Asustek and other local firms in the electronics industry, including software developers or those working on voice, or image identification systems.
“The robotics supply chain will become the new Apple supply chain,” driving the nation’s electronics sector, Chen said.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS