Acer’s PC business has been focusing on high-margin segments, including gaming notebooks, ultra-thin models and 2-in-1s, with each segment faring well in the first five months of 2017, according to Acer CEO Jason Chen.
Acer’s revenues from its gaming PC business reached US$300 million in 2016 and Acer has been outperforming the market average in many product lines, said Chen, noting that in the first five months of 2017, Acer’s gaming PC sales went up 80% from the same period a year ago, while the market’s average was only around 30%. Acer is also seeing the same trend for its Chromebook business with first-five-month sales growing 80% from a year ago, but the market’s average growth was only 20%.
Acer’s strategy since falling from the peak of its operations three and half years ago, has been focusing on maintaining its profitability. Currently, Acer’s product ASP is up 14% from before and gross margins reached 10% in 2016, the highest in the past 10 years, Chen detailed.
The company has also been pushing new businesses such as virtual reality (VR), content and artificial intelligence (AI). Acer has partnered with Starbreeze to establish a joint venture for VR applications and has started seeing profits since the second half of 2016. The company’s high-performance PC for AI applications also recently acquired procurement orders from Thailand, and the company has already received a total of seven related procurement projects for 2017. The number of projects is expected to rise further.
Acer’s VR business is currently focusing on gaming- and movie-related content and is also looking to merge the two together.
Acer recently partnered with ZeroLight to develop high definition car VR solutions. The company has also been pushing its VR technologies into industries such as real estate, aerospace and training.
In 2016, Acer applied for 323 patents in Taiwan, behind only Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) and ITRI. Although Acer does not invest heavily on R&D, the company is still trying to stay competitive for any potential business opportunities. |