Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) is to initiate a second wave of corporate restructuring this week by transferring hundreds of employees from existing business units to a newly set up “talent pool.”
“Asustek does not plan to lay off employees. The idea of a talent pool is to make the organization more flexible,” spokesman Nick Wu (吳長榮) said by telephone yesterday, dismissing market speculation that it was planning to axe a large number of employees to cut costs.
The company at the end of May announced the first phase of its corporate restructuring to boost growth, after reporting that first-quarter net income dropped to a 23-quarter low of NT$4.66 billion (US$152.74 million).
It spun off gaming PCs from its notebook computer division to form a new business unit, in a bid to allocate more resources to speed up its development.
It also gave chief operating officer S.Y. Hsu (許先越) more power to oversee the notebook and desktop computer businesses. Hsu had tendered his resignation earlier in May, but was persuaded to stay on.
According to Asustek’s latest restructuring plan, its three business units — PC, mobile and gaming — are to propose by tomorrow a list of employees that they plan to retain based on their operating scale. Employees who are not on the list are to be relocated to the talent pool.
Asustek has more than 16,000 employees globally, including 9,000 in Taiwan, Wu said.
The hundreds projected to be relocated to the talent pool would account for a small percentage of the company’s total employees, Wu said.
The talent pool is to be divided into at least four teams — software, hardware, quality control and management — which will lend support to existing business units.
It will also provide support to the development of new business, such as the development of artificial intelligence-related technologies, Wu said.
Asustek expects the first and second phases of restructuring to be completed and show their effect after three to four quarters, he said.
The company hopes that the changes this year would increase its operating efficiency and speed up its lead time from design to final shipment, it said.
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
Catastrophic computer outages caused by a software update from one company have once again exposed the dangers of global technological dependence on a handful of players, experts said on Friday. A flawed update sent out by the little-known security firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc brought airlines, TV stations and myriad other aspects of daily life to a standstill. The outages affected companies or individuals that use CrowdStrike on the Microsoft Inc’s Windows platform. When they applied the update, the incompatible software crashed computers into a frozen state known as the “blue screen of death.” “Today CrowdStrike has become a household name, but not in