Asia

Google invests in Asia data centres

September 28, 2011 8:05 am by Robin Kwong

Google announced on Wednesday that it is spending more than $200m to build its first proprietary data centres in Asia, a move that reflects the growth in demand for internet and cloud-based services in the region.

These are not, of course, Google’s first servers in Asia, though they are the first in the region where Google is publicly disclosing their locations. They will also be the first that Google will build from the ground up, from acquiring the land to designing the customised servers. Read more

Tags: Asia, data centres, google, Hardware, Quanta
Posted in Asia, Hardware, Internet | Permalink

HP’s PC retreat causes supply chain jitters

August 23, 2011 1:21 pm by Robin Kwong

Reverberations from HP’s announcement that it intends to shed its PC business, the world’s biggest by volume, is being felt far and wide across the global IT industry. While no clear buyer has yet emerged, executives in the PC supply chain, analysts and even government officials are all trying to make sense of its impact.

Nowhere is this search for answers more urgent than in Taiwan, where much of the world’s PC supply chain resides. HP’s computers are assembled by Hon Hai, Quanta, Inventec and Wistron, all Taiwanese companies. Read more

Tags: Asia, Hon Hai, HP, supply chain
Posted in Asia, Computers, Hardware | Permalink

MediaTek and NTT Docomo in 4G alliance

July 27, 2010 10:40 am by Robin Kwong

MediaTek is going decidedly upscale. The Taiwanese company, the biggest supplier of mobile phone chips to China, was until a year ago still best known as the enabler of gray market ‘bandit phones’ that flooded Chinese and other emerging markets.Within the past year, however, MediaTek has increasingly sold its chips to top-tier international phone brands such as Samsung and LG, and expanded its repertoire to include an advanced third-generation chip for smartphones. On Tuesday it announced its next step – licensing fourth-generation LTE technology from Japan’s NTT Docomo.

Tags: Asia, LTE, MediaTek, Mobile, Telecoms
Posted in Asia, Mobile | Permalink

Too much capacity better than too little for TSMC

June 24, 2010 5:10 pm by Robin Kwong

How much capacity does Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company need? The world’s biggest contract chipmaker is, after all, already planning to spend $4.8bn this year alone on capacity expansion.

The answer, according to Morris Chang, chairman and chief executive, is a lot more still. Addressing an audience of TSMC clients yesterday, Mr Chang laid out for the first time his approach towards capacity-building. The chip making industry, he said, often oscillates between two states of imbalance – either demand outstrips supply, or vice versa. Read more

Tags: Asia, semiconductors, TSMC
Posted in Asia, Hardware | Permalink

Hanwang to take over China . . . then the world

June 1, 2010 1:42 pm by Robin Kwong

It’s only been a few weeks, but Liu Yingjian, founder and chairman of Hanwang technology, already appears to be one step closer to his goal of making China’s biggest e-reader company a Fortune 500 company.

Mr Liu told the FT about this ambitious plan at the end of April, and we were a bit sceptical given the challenges Hanwang would face in order to achieve it, especially as consumers’ attention have clearly shifted from e-readers to tablet PCs in recent months.