Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) yesterday said it is to acquire 7.692 million common shares in Vuzix Corp at US$1.30 per share as part of its long-term investment plans in the US-based maker of smart eyewear.
The share purchase plan was announced after the two companies in November last year entered into a partnership agreement to manufacture next-generation lightweight smart glasses with shipments slated to start later this year.
It is its first tranche of investment in Vuzix, Quanta said in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing, adding that it would acquire preferred shares of Vuzix during the second and third tranches.
Photo courtesy of Quanta Computer Inc
Quanta’s offer of US$1.30 per share represents a premium of about 51 percent on Vuzix’s closing price of US$0.86 on Friday. US markets were closed on Monday for the Labor Day holiday.
Figures for the second and third tranches have yet to be finalized, but would be less than US$10 million, Quanta said.
The company would hold less than a 19.2 percent stake in the NASDAQ-listed Vuzix after the three tranches are completed, with total investments not exceeding US$20 million, it added.
Vuzix, established in 1997 in Rochester, New York, initially made optical products for the military and the US Department of Defense, but shifted to developing consumer-grade virtual reality (VR) products and is now a leading supplier of smart glasses, and augmented reality (AR) and VR technologies and products.
The deepened partnership between the two firms underscores Quanta’s aim of delivering innovative smart glasses products for the broader markets using waveguides and optical display components sourced from Vuzix, the companies said.
Market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said Quanta has been bolstering its technical capabilities in the VR and AR domains in the past few years, and its collaboration with Vuzix is aimed at improving its technology capabilities, providing comprehensive solutions and seizing opportunities in the flourishing virtual market.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS