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Inventec Corporation

Inventec Corporation – A Taiwan-based Computer Hardware Company That is one of the Largest Exporters in China.

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China is one of the biggest exporters of electronics and computer hardware across the globe. There are several companies that have made a strong market presence over the past few decades and Inventec Corporation is one of them. Founded in 1975, Inventec is a Taiwan-based publicly traded company based in Taipei. Kou-I Yeh founded the company and currently serves as President of the Inventec Group.

About Inventec Corporation

Inventec is a leading manufacturer of computers, notebooks, telephones, and servers. With the advent of the 21st century, the company is exploring opportunities in cloud computing and wireless communication. Inventec is also investing in IoT and not to mention artificial intelligence-based devices. Evolution is very important for any company to stay in the market and deliver what is latest to the audience. Two of the primary concepts of Inventec for its business are to maintain quality and keep an open mind.

In this digital age, there are currently three main goals that Inventec is trying to achieve. First, open research centers for AI, Industry 4.0, and 5G communication technology. Second, focus on four important fields of servers, smart devices, smart homes, and IoT. Last but not least expanding business in the healthcare and automation sector such that there is room for long-term development.

Inventec Corporation
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History of the Company

Born in 1975 with a capital of $1 million, Inventec made impressive growth in the first decade of its business. In 1987, the company was awarded the “PIP Optimal Growth Partner Award” by SEARS. The same year, Inventec made it to the top 20 list of companies recognized as national export excellent manufacturers. In 1988, Inventec’s IPO was approved and it started making plans to expand overseas. The company eventually started manufacturing notebook laptop computers and other hardware products. In 1989, Inventec Besta was established as an independent subsidiary for producing electronic dictionaries. Inventec also started manufacturing phone fax machines via Inventec Electronics.

In the early 1990s, the company went on a partnership with TIM Electronics and Toshiba Co to manufacture communication products. It also received the excellent manufacturer award given by Texas Instruments in 1991. Inventec has its biggest market in China but apart from that the company also invested in opening new units in Hong Kong. In China, it has more than one operating and manufacturing unit including Beijing, Tianjin, Nanking, etc. As Inventec rolled out the reading electronic dictionary, it won the Taiwan Boutique Award in 1984.

Sales and Expansion

Inventec was majorly responsible for manufacturing computer notebooks and in 2000 it manufactured four million units of the same for Compaq Computers. These notebook computers bagged the Best Buy Award from PC World. Some of the other major clients who did business with Inventec are Hewlett Packard company IEC Technologies. In 2008, the annual sales of the company summed up to more than $10 billion. As the sale and annual revenue kept increasing by several folds, the company also established plenty of R&D facilities for better quality products and more innovation.

Inventec also became famous for its social responsibility and bagged the Corporate Social Responsibility Award by Global Views Magazine in 2009. The same year, the company also became the recipient of the “Carbon Reduction Model Enterprise Award” by the government. So far, Inventec has been awarded uncountable awards for both its performance and sustainability.

Important people of Inventec Corporation

Tom Cho is the current Chairman of the Inventec Corporation and he focuses on achieving the first goal of Inventec, i.e., incorporating new AI trends, 5G technology, and Industry 4.0 for the company’s growth. Cho graduated from National Taiwan University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. In 1985, he became a part of Inventec and worked primarily in multimedia, telecom, and other subsidiaries.

Maurice Wu is the working President of Inventec Corporation and he joined the company in 1980. For the last 30 years, he has continuously led the company towards bigger success and innovation. Maurice focuses more on the sustainable goals of the company and he also has experience in manufacturing, product development, and management.

Flex Ltd

Flex Ltd – An American-Singaporean Multinational Conglomerate Famous For Its Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS)

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The 51-years old company Flex Ltd offers electronics manufacturing services (EMS) and it is also an original design manufacturer (ODM). Joe McKenzie and Barbara Ann McKenzie founded the company in September of 1969. The company was previously known as Flextronics International Ltd and the company is currently based in San Jose, California. Simplicity and efficiency are the two key factors that Flex provides to its customers and help them grow in this competitive market. In 2019, Flex completed its journey of five decades in the electronics industry and also appointed Ms. Revathi Advaithi as its new CEO.

Flex Ltd – A Family Business

During the late 1960s, the silicon valley companies needed more printed circuit boards than they were able to produce in-house. So, Joe and Barbara McKinzie opened a family business called Flextronics where they hand-soldered every part on the circuit boards. Eventually, they automated the board construction, and the business growing in the 1970s. In 1980, the couple sold the company to Jack Watts, Joe Sullivan, and Bob Todd. After this acquisition, the company was converted to a contract manufacturer, and the next year it became the first American manufacturer that went offshore and established business in Singapore.

In the 1980s, the company expanded its solutions and started providing computer-aided design services (CAD), blueprinting printed circuit boards along designing. As Flextronics expanded its product range, it started landing big clients like Sun Microsystems. As the business boomed, the company started building facilities all over Asia but loss started escalating as the economic recession in the early 90s hit hard.

Flex Ltd
Image source: dev.rodpub.com

Surviving The Economic Depression

Flextronics went public just a few weeks before the stock market crashed and the economic recession started in the early 1990s. In order to survive the crisis, the company privatized all the Asian manufacturing facilities with the help of outside funding and eventually closed the US plants. Michael Marks became the CEO of this new private company which filed its IPO in 1994. Marks was determined to rebuild the company’s presence in the US and under his leadership, the revenue tripled within three years.

Between 1993 to 1998, Flextronics International Ltd completed 12 acquisitions and expanded its workforce by hiring more than 10,000 employees. The company built its industrial parks in the low-cost regions which included Poland, Mexico, Brazil, Hungary, China, and the Czech Republic. This helped the company bring down the logistics and transportation costs. In 1995, Flextronics received a contract from Microsoft and the products were smart home devices and wallet-size PCs. During this period Flextronics acquired companies like nChip, the Astron Group, and FICO Plastics Limited. In 1997, the company built a giant size R&D facility in San Jose, California, and a couple of new plants in China and Mexico.

Partnerships and Acquisitions

The Hungarian market for Flextronics developed as Hewlett-Packard made the company primary manufacturer for inkjet printers. In the mid-1980s, Flextronics acquired a bunch of companies that included Neutronics Holdings A.G., Conexao Informatica Ltd, DTM Products Inc, Energipilot A.B., and Altatron Inc. In 1999, Flextronics entered into a service partnership with Corio Inc and later that year announced the purchase of The Dii Group Inc for $2.4 billion. This acquisition to date is one of the biggest in the history of Flextronics.

In 2000, the company went into a five-year outsourcing contract with Motorola. With the advent of a new decade, the company made it among the top three best-managed companies by IndustryWeek. The series of acquisitions continued in the following years as well and by the end of the decade, it landed another big client which was LG Electronics. In 2015, the company’s name was replaced by Flex from Flextronics International Ltd.

In recent years, Flex acquired some of the very important companies which play a significant role in today’s cutting-edge innovative technology. For example, Flex acquired NEXTracker which is a famous solar tracker company followed by Wink Smart Home Platform for smart AI-based tech in our home.

Revathi Advaithi – CEO of Flex Ltd

Revathi Advaithi became the new CEO of Flex in 2019 and she is also an Advocate for women in STEM. Revathi completed her education at Birla Institute of Technology and Science and graduated with a mechanical engineering degree. In 2005, she completed her MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management. Revathi worked at Eaton and Honeywell before joining Flex.

Wistron Corporation

Wistron Corporation – An Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) Which Grew Independently After Spinning Off From Acer.

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Originally the manufacturing division of Acer Inc, Wistron Corporation emerged as an independent entity in 2000. The company is a part of the ODM sector and it designs and manufactures Wistron products for other companies. These products are sold under the brand name of other companies. Wistron Corporation is based in Taipei, Taiwan and the key people involved in the core team of the company are Simon Lin (Chairman and CSO) and Robert Huang (Vice President). The company has also created a presence in international markets including Asia, North America, and Europe. Currently, there are more than 80,000 Wistron employees spread across the world.

About Wistron Corporation

Wistron is a leading global leader when it comes to providing technical solutions and innovative ICT products. Focusing primarily on communication and information products, Wistron has become one of the largest suppliers across the globe. Wistron has a very powerful and dedicated R&D division where the employees are highly qualified and experienced in product design. The company has a handful of subsidiaries that specialize in different branches of technology and communication. The subsidiaries are Wistron NeWeb Corporation (design and development of communication products), Wistron Information Technology & Service Corporation (software service company), and Wiwynn Corporation (cloud services company).

Wistron Corporation
Image source: logosurfer.com

History of Wistron Corporation

In the realm of contract manufacturing, Wistron represents a very powerful company that dominates the market not only as a computer maker but also as storage systems, mobile phones, LCD TVs, etc. After spinning off from Acer Inc, the company has diversified in terms of product range and landed some biggest clients like Microsoft and Dell. Only a year after the spin-off, Wistron started making Xbox videogames consoles and so much more. Simon Lin has big dreams for Wistron Corporation and eventually, he took the company to another level in the market. In the initial days, the company appeared on Forbes Asia’s Fabulous 50 list three times in a row. In 2009, the company’s manufacturing business was worth $233 billion.

Wistron started investing in electronics recycling very early and bought 5 percent of a company called Super Dragon Technology for dismantling computers. The company also invested in a startup called Polymer Vision to enter into the electronic reader market. Being an ODM company, Wistron also branched out to create opportunities in technology services. This was a rather smart investment and the reason why Wistron today is such a powerful company even if it is not that well-known among common people.

About Acer Inc

Acer is a Taiwan-based multinational corporation that sells electronic products and computer hardware. Stan Shih along with many others founded the company in 1976. The company started off with eleven employees and today it generates revenue of more than $200 billion. Acer serves customers on a global scale as it operates in 40 different nations. In 2000, along with spinning off Wistron, the company also let go of BenQ, and in 2018 spun off GadgeTek Inc. Acer has a very strong presence in Australia, Europe, India, Indonesia, and North America.

Products and Services of Wistron Corporation

Wistron provides a wide range of services as well as products and focuses very much on creating green products. The company strictly adheres to zero usage of forbidden substances and invests significantly in designing recyclable products. Wistron also focuses on constantly applying for patents after it designs innovative products for its customers. Some of the sectors where Wistron provides innovative solutions are education, industrial computers, IoT, enterprise storage, healthcare, etc.

Wistron is also known for developing LCD module components that range from smartphones to LCD TVs. To evolve with time and stay in the competition, Wistron has also expanded its LCM ODM production to automotive and industrial applications. Taking an active part in sustainable business creation, Wistron produces eco-recycled plastics, dismantling and recycling circuit boards, etc.

Simon Lin – Chairman of Wistron Corporation

Simon Lin graduated from National Chiao Tung University based in Taiwan. He graduated with a computer science degree and joined Acer as a regional sales manager. Simon’s career started with Acer and in 1997 he became the President and CEO of the same. Currently, he is the Chairman of Wistron Technologies and the company has been thriving under his leadership since day one.

benq corporation

BenQ Corporation: One of the Leading IT and Electronics Company in Taiwan.

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BenQ Corporation is a Taiwan-based electronics and IT company offering solutions to its customers globally. The company has been in the field of computing and technology for the past 37 years. Basically, it started as a part of Acer Communication & Multimedia, but in 2001, the company spun off from the latter to form a separate brand. BenQ Corporation deals in developing and selling technology products, electronics, computing, and communications devices. It uses BenQ as its trading name. It is a subsidiary company of Qisda Corporation and has its headquarter based in Taipei, Taiwan.

The Formation of BenQ Corporation

The name BenQ has a meaningful abbreviation which is also the company slogan, i.e., Bringing Enjoyment and Quality to Life. The company tries to fulfill all its operations based on the said slogan. The company was founded in 1984 as a part of Acer Peripherals Inc. In 1991, the latter had a name change to Acer & Multimedia. This was the same time when Acer began to expand its operations in different fields, and as a result, the company established Acer Display Technologies Inc. in 1996. Acer also built its manufacturing units in Taiwan and China at the same time.
Acer established BenQGuru (Guru Systems), another subsidiary company, an e-business solutions provider, to enter the Asian market in 1998, employing about 350 people. But in 2001, BenQ was spun off from Acer to form a separate company, with its headquarters established in Taiwan.
Though the company was built to serve the Asian consumers, after the separation from Acer, it started to expand overseas and has now established offices in Europe and America as well.

BenQ Corporation
Image Source: www.dptechgroup.com

The Growth

BenQ started its journey as an independent company in 2001, and since then, it has been only growing. Started with 350 people, it now employs over 4000 people globally. It has also established multiple sales offices in the Asia Pacific, Latin America and North America, Europe, and China. As a brand, BenQ is operational in over 100 countries. Though the company started as a consultancy and management service provider, it has now grown to become an IT and electronics company, and today is one of the leading suppliers of TFT LCD monitors, digital projectors, digital cameras, and mobile computing devices, etc.
BenQ has also brought a series of smartphones under its name, M775C being the first smartphone that the company launched in the year 2003. The interest of BenQ in the smartphone business made it acquire the mobile devices division of Germany’s Siemens AG in 2005, forming a separate division for smartphone development named BenQ Mobile trading with the name, BenQ-Siemens. BenQ also separated its contract manufacturing and own-brand divisions in 2006.
BenQ mobile had to shut down due to the losses in 2007. But the parent company of BenQ, Qisda Corporation, still manufactured mobiles for Dell. The company launched a few of the first Windows smartphones for Dell in 2012. The next year, BenQ restarted the manufacturing of smartphones under its brand name. In 2015, the company partnered with UK mobile telecoms provider EE to launch another series of smartphones. The same year, it also acquired ZOWIE GEAR and established a new gaming division, developing mice, mousepads, sound cards, monitors, and other gaming accessories.

Products and Services

BenQ manufactures and distributes its products in three main divisions; computing (TV-sets, joy books, keyboards, storage, monitors, etc.), consumer electronics (camera, projectors, displays), and communications (mobile and smartphones). Currently, the company is focused on being ready for the future and is working on Human Technology, Design Technology, and Entertainment Technology. BenQ also develops products for the healthcare industry. It has also developed software and energy management solutions for its customers.

The CEO at BenQ

Conway Lee is the current President and the CEO of BenQ Corporation. He has got an MBA degree from the University of Southern Mississippi, USA. Lee has been working with BenQ before it was even formed. He joined the Acer group in 1989 and worked with the company for over ten years. When BenQ spun off from Acer, Lee joined the company as the General Manager of the Digital Media Business Group of the company. He was also the in-charge of BenQ Europe for some time.

Realtek

Realtek – A Taiwanese Semiconductor Company Focused on Developing Low-Cost Electronic Devices.

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Realtek is a leading cutting edge semiconductor company founded in 1987. Realtek has expanded its primary products and solutions throughout the following years. The company took a big leap when it acquired Avance Logic in 1995 and improved its audio technology solutions. Avance was an independent subsidiary till 2002 and then it was integrated into Realtek’s Audio Solutions. Currently, the company is operating with approximately 5,000 employees and its headquarters is based in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The company invests significantly in research and development facilities and 78 percent of the total employees exclusively work for the same as well.

The Early Days of Realtek

Founded in 1987, Realtek made a breakthrough when it invented Realtek’s RTG3108 High-Performance Window Accelerator Chipset. The product received appreciation and was awarded the Innovative Product Award from Hsinchu Science Park Administration. In 1995, the company got certified as an ISO9001 registered company and after a couple of years rolled out Realtek Single-Chip Fast Ethernet Controller. Realtek received a New Product Development Award for this new controller and the company was also approved for the Taiwan Over-The-Counter Securities Exchange list. Next year, Company made it into the list of companies approved for the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

Realtek
Image source: www.lifewire.com

Realtek in 21st Century

Realtek brought some major new innovations into the semiconductor market as it started focusing on its R&D department. In 2000, the company received a huge R&D grant from the Hsinchu Science Park Administration for building a very fast ethernet transceiver. The same year, Realtek became the recipient of MOEA’s Most Outstanding Award for Industrial Technology Advancement. In 2001, Realtek rolled out a Multi-mode Single-Chip 10/100M Fast Ethernet Controller which also received Component Design Award by EDN Asia Magazine.

In 2002, the company received another round for an R & D fund and this time it was for a media access controller and a high-performing multifunction peripheral controller. The company received a lot of fame this year as it was featured in Taiwan’s Microelectronics Magazine as one of the top ten global electronic component providers. the company also made it into the Forbes list in 2003 as it became Global 200 Best Small Companies. The innovations kept on brewing in the R&D sector of Realtek and every year it came up with more than one impressive product. This led to the opening of a new building of the company in 2005. In 2009, the company won’t the prestigious National Invention and Creation Award. In the following years, the company started making progress in digital media and also enhanced on designing sustainable products.

Company in Present Day

Realtek’s contribution to creating a better environment through designing more green products was awarded by the country. It received Taiwan Green Classics Award in 2011 Industrial Sustainable Excellence Award and Superior Enterprise Innovation Award all in the same year. In recent years, Company has proven to be one of the best companies with significant contributions in IoT applications, mobiles, and wearables, car electronics, IC & Components, etc.

The demand for the company’s chips has also increased especially during the pandemic as the consumer base for smart devices and gadgets have splurged unexpectedly. This is one of the biggest reasons why not only Realtek but every semiconductor business, in general, faced an increase in demand for chips from the last year. In 2021, the company also launched a new gaming network total solution that bagged Computex D&I Awards of this year. Realtek designs products on a very wide range of semiconductor components. But, some of their signature products that have contributed to their global presence are BlueTooth TWS with ANC solution, Low-Power AI IP Camera, 8K Video Decoder and Processing IC, etc.

Sun-Chien Chiu – General Manager

Chiu completed his education at National Taiwan University and has been a part of Realtek Semiconductor Corp since 1999. Apart from serving as the President of Realtek, he is also the board member of Wionics Technologies Inc.

TietoEVRY

TietoEVRY: One of the Leading Digital Services and Software Company.

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TietoEVRY Oyj aka Tieto is a Finland-based IT and software service company with its headquarters in Helsinki, Finland. The company is over fifty years old, having a company named EVRY added to it in 2019 with a EUR 1.2 Bn deal, hence becoming TietoEVRY. TietoEVRY is a conglomerate and provides services in the field of healthcare, industrial and consumer services, finance, etc. According to the company, it creates a digital advantage for businesses and society.

About The TietoEVRY

TietoEVRY has a history of over 50 years, and with multiple acquisitions, it has reached heights of success. The company is not only a leading software service provider in its home country but has expanded to over 20 other countries on all the continents. Finland, Norway and Sweden are the main markets where TietoEVRY is doing its business. Except that, it has established its offices in Germany, Denmark, Great Britain, Netherlands, Malaysia, India, China, and Poland, etc. Being a software company, it offers services to the banking industry, the insurance industry, telecom industry, automotive, media as well as the healthcare industry.
TietoEVRY trades on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki and Stockholm and has employed over 24000 people globally. As of 2020, the company made revenues worth €2.786 billion.

TietoEVRY
Image source: jobsnet.in

The Back Story

TietoEVRY started its operations as an IT systems development and maintenance company in 1968 in n Espoo, Finland, and went by the name Tietotehdas Oy. The company worked as the provider of computer services and software for the mainframe computers, Union Bank of Finland is one of its first customers. The company despite being a newbie started to grow at a rapid rate in its beginning years. The arrival of minicomputers helped the company grow to a great extent. In the late 70s and early 80s, the company added many customers from different industries.
The decade of the 90s was when TietoEVRY started to make acquisitions and was involved in multiple mergers and partnerships, resulting in even faster growth. In the mid of 90s, TietoEVRY had a name change to TT Tieto, and later in 1998, the company name was again changed to Tieto. This was the same time when the company also started to try new things and entered the Telecom business by acquiring Avancer.

The Growth Years

In 1999, Tieto merged its operations with the Swedish Enator corporation and formed TietoEnator. The partnership went on for about ten years, and in 2008, through a restructuring process, the company became Tieto Corporation, establishing its headquarters in Helsinki. With the all-new revamping of the company, it started to expand overseas, too.
In 2015, Tieto made some of the major acquisitions, to expand its business in the field of digital Customer Experience Management and to support, including Smilehous, one of the biggest Finnish consultants and service providers, Imano AB, and Software Innovation. These acquisitions have helped the company to grow in the field of digital Customer Experience Management, consulting, and digitalization services in paper and forestry industries as well as enterprise content management. In 2019, the company merged the operations of another IT company named Evry and formed TietoEVRY, the current trading name for the company.
DaWinci is one of the most popular management software from TietoEVRY, used by big-name companies from various industries for planning, transportation management, personnel logistics, asset management and reporting, etc. The company serves its customers from the field of banking, insurance, telecom, automotive and media, healthcare, forest, manufacturing, retail, and logistics, public; ICT operation management, etc. Tieto Norway AS (Norway) and Tieto Sweden AB (Sweden) are the major subsidieary of the TietoEVRY.

The CEO at TietoEVRY

Kimmo Alkio is the current CEO and the President of TietoEVRY. He is a native of Finland and was born on 25 October 1963 in Helsinki, Finland. He has got a bachelor’s degree in business from Texas A&M University, USA, and an Executive MBA degree from the Helsinki University of Technology, Finland.
Alkio is a renowned Finnish businessman. He is also a former professional Tennis Player and has won doubles titles in Helsinki in the period between 1981 to 1987. In his corporate career, Alkio has worked at companies like Nokia, F-Secure Corporation, Digital Equipment Corporation, and Compaq Computer in various management positions. Alkio joined TietoEVRY in 2011 as the CEO and the President.