Since many of you Indians seem unconvinced, let me repeat my point. A country has a domestic Silicon Valley only when you have multi-billion dollar tech titans with their own proprietary high technology.
Taiwan satisfies this criterion. India does not. Hence, India does not have a Silicon Valley.
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Acer Challenges Apple’s iPad, Unveils Three Tablet Computers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvBFPK3JjSM
PCMagazineReviews: Live from the Acer Tablet Unveiling
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-11-2...-computers.html
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Acer Challenges Apple’s iPad, Unveils Three Tablet Computers
November 23, 2010, 11:37 PM EST
By Hugo Miller and Katie Hoffmann
Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) --
Acer Inc., the world’s second-largest computer maker, unveiled a lineup of three tablet devices in a bid to challenge Apple Inc.’s market-leading iPad.
Two of the tablets will be based on Google Inc.’s Android platform and feature 7-inch and 10.1-inch screens, while the third 10.1-inch-display device will run on Microsoft Corp.’s Windows software, Taipei-based Acer said in New York yesterday.
Acer, which also makes mobile phones, aims to grab about 10 percent of the market for tablets that bridge the gap between laptops and smartphones such as Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry and Apple’s iPhone. Apple demonstrated the appeal of such devices by selling 3 million iPads in the first 80 days after the product debuted in April.
The new tablet computers may appeal to price-sensitive consumers, Angela Hsiang, an analyst with KGI Securities Co. in Taipei, said by telephone. “The debut highlights Acer’s official entry into the tablet computer market,” said Hsiang, who rates the stock “outperform.”
Acer joins a field dominated by Apple, which had a 95 percent share of the tablet market last quarter, according to Strategy Analytics. Samsung Electronics Co. recently released its Galaxy Tab and RIM plans to release its 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook next quarter.
“This is a market that’s still not fully known, not fully satisfied,” Jim Wong, Acer’s head of information-technology products, said yesterday. The company expects 40 million to 50 million tablets will be sold worldwide next year, he said.
With the 9.7-inch iPad priced between $499 and $829, consumers looking for cheaper devices may be attracted to other tablets below $400, Hsiang said. Still, it will take some time before the new products can significantly add to Acer’s revenue, she said.
Hedging Bets
“It’s a wide-open market and an opportunity for Acer to make itself better known to a North American market,” said Roger Entner, head of telecom research at Nielsen Co.
Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci may be trying to hedge his bets by releasing devices in different sizes. Apple CEO Steve Jobs said last month that devices such as the PlayBook are “dead on arrival” because they are too small to compete with the iPad, which has a 9.7-inch screen.
Acer, which trails Hewlett-Packard Co. in global computer shipments, rose 0.5 percent to NT$90.20 at 11:54 a.m. on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The stock has lost 6.1 percent this year, compared with a 1.5 percent gain by the benchmark Taiex index.
The two Android tablets will be available in April and the Microsoft device will go on sale in February. All three will offer Wi-Fi connectivity and allow users to surf the Internet using a 3G connection. Wong said the tablets would likely be in the previously stated range of $299 to $699.
Acer yesterday also released a smartphone with a 4.8-inch screen based on Android that they touted as a phone with the “soul of a tablet.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Hugo Miller in Toronto at
hugomiller@bloomberg.net; Katie Hoffmann in New York at
khoffmann4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at
pelstrom@bloomberg.net"
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Research and development center, Quanta Computer Inc., Taoyuan, Taiwan.
http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?Type=aECO&ID=201201100023
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Quanta's 2011 notebook computer shipments up 7.1 percent
2012/01/10 17:32:39
Taipei, Jan. 10 (CNA) Quanta Computer Inc., the world's largest notebook computer ODM service supplier, said Tuesday its shipments for 2011 rose 7.1 percent from a year earlier, beating the company's forecast of a 5 percent increase.
Quanta shipped 55.8 million notebook computers last year, compared with 52.10 million units shipped in 2010.
"The 2011 figure was also better than the average 5 percent growth for the global notebook computer sector," Grand Cathay Securities analyst Mars Hsu said. "Quanta has taken advantage of stable orders from its major customers, in particular from Hewlett-Packard and Apple."
According to Hsu, HP and Apple account for about 50 percent of Quanta's total annual sales.
"The support from those buyers helped Quanta weather falling global demand to some extent," Hsu said.
The local media has reported Quanta has also secured orders from Amazon to assemble its popular tablet computer model -- the Kindle Fire.
Hsu cautioned, however, that Quanta was still feeling the pinch of a hard disk drive shortage after Thailand, a major source of hard disk drives, was hit by serious flooding.
The shortage contributed to falling shipment numbers in the final quarter of 2011. Quanta's shipments fell to 4.2 million units in December from 4.4 million units in November and from 5.3 million units in October.
"I expect the hard disk drive shortage will continue to affect Quanta's production in the first quarter of this year," Hsu said.
Though shipments of notebook computers rose for the year as a whole, Quanta's consolidated sales in 2011 fell by about 1 percent to NT$1.08 trillion (US$35.93 billion).
In December alone, consolidated sales totaled NT$91.47 billion, down 5.6 percent from November and also down 4.8 percent from a year earlier.
Hsu said he expected Quanta to post net profit per share of about NT$5.5 for 2011, up from the NT$4.89 recorded in 2010, after taking into account foreign exchange income.
(By Han Ting-ting and Frances Huang)"
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Taiwan's Compal to build $500 million laptop plant in Chengdu, China
Compal Headquarters
China Business News: Taiwan's Compal to build laptop plant in Chengdu
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Taiwan's Compal to build laptop plant in Chengdu
Sep. 30, 2010 (China Knowledge) - Compal Electronics Inc, a Taiwanese computer and electronic product manufacturer, will set up a notebook plant in Chengdu, and the ground breaking ceremony was held on Sept. 27, according to a local media.
The new plant will be built in Shuangliu County of Chengdu and the headquarters will be established in Wuhou District of the city.
The Chengdu plant will produce PC and electronic 3C related products, including notebook, all-in-one PC, PAD flat panel PC, television, monitor, mobile communication and wireless network. Total investment of the project may reach US$500 million. The construction of the plant is scheduled to be completed on Apr. 1, 2011.
The plant could make 10 million notebooks by the end of 2011, and produce 20 million notebooks in 2013.
Compal, the world's biggest contract manufacturer of notebooks, realized revenue of US$20.4 billion in 2009, ranking 431 among the world's top 500 enterprises."
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Taiwan to approve AU Optronics $3 billion China flat-screen plan this month
AU Optronics, Suzhou Industrial Park, China
AU Optronics LCD manufacturing facility
Taiwan to approve China flat-screen plan this month - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
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Taiwan to approve China flat-screen plan this month
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 16:10:00 10/03/2010
TAIPEI –
Taiwan is expected to approve a flat-screen maker's huge Chinese investment plan this month in another sign of the island easing high-tech controls on its formerly bitter rival, a report said Sunday.
The economic ministry has completed much of the screening for AU Optronics' application to build a $3 billion flat-screen plant in China's eastern Kunshan city, the state Central News Agency said.
The plan has drawn special attention as it is seen by many as a barometer of the government's relaxation of long-standing restrictions on high-tech investment by local companies in China.
"Only some tiny issues remain to be solved," an economic ministry official was quoted as saying, adding that the application is expected to be approved this month if the company provides required documents soon.
AU Optronics, a leading liquid crystal display manufacturer, filed the application to the government six months ago, and rumors of a government go-ahead have circulated for some time.
But last week the company was not on the list of local high-tech companies seeking official approval for their China-bound investments, touching off complaints from AU Optronics Chairman K.Y. Lee.
Taiwan relaxed the rules earlier this year, but local high-tech firms such as AU Optronics still need to keep more advanced technologies at home when applying to invest in China.
Taiwan's opposition, which favors independence from Beijing, has repeatedly warned against easing controls, fearing closer economic integration will mean job losses as the island loses out to China's relatively cheaper workforce.
But Taiwan's high-tech businesses have increasingly called for the rules to be relaxed, pointing out that their competitors from South Korea and Japan have been stepping up activity in China."
News | SARIO, Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency
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AU Optronics Corporation with its branches on three continents (Asia, Europe and the U.S.) operates 13 factories for TFT-LCD panel production (G3.5, up to G8.5 fabrications), 10 factories for TFT –LCD module production and 2 technology centers. In 2007 it reached sales in total volume of 10 billion Euros and nowadays it employs over 42,000 employees in its global branches in Taiwan, China, Japan, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, the U. S. and Europe. In 2008 its sales volume reached 12.9 billion USD. AU Optronics Corporation is the first pure TFT-LCD manufacturer to successfully list at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)."