EXCLUSIVE: Acer Global CEO Speaks Out About China US Trade War “Not Good” He Claims

In an exclusive interview with ChannelNews Jason Chen the CEO of Acer has spoken out about the US China trade ban claiming the actions of the US will impact PC makers” both large and small” he also said that component makers will not be immune from the fall out.

Taiwan makes over 75% of the worlds PC’s notebooks and Companies such as Acer lead the world in the development of high-end gaming notebooks which are built wrapped around US components such as those provided by Nvidia, Microsoft and Intel as well as notebooks and high end workstations for ‘Creative Professionals”.

Speaking a private function for Acer’s new Concept D range of products spanning both high end workstations with Xeon Intel processors to the most powerful creative notebooks in the world Chan said “I think the ban will impact everyone. It will impact both the Taiwanese and Chinese markets and the US market where a lot of our components and software are manufactured by US Companies”.

“I don’t think anyone is immune from this ban” he said.

Chairman and CEO of Acer Jason Chen said that his board is considering the impact of the Trump administrations decisions and is working on inatives that could see Acer manufacturers outside China.

Chen said innovation is the only way to respond to the U.S.-China trade war. than China.

Acer products are made by contract manufacturers because the company does not have any production plants itself.

Both Acer and its contract manufacturers will keep a close eye on the U.S.-China trade talks, said Chen.

Jason Chen CEO of Acer Hold Court With Asia Media at Computex

Standing with Chen were senior Vice Presidents from Microsoft, Nvidia and Intel all Companies that face problems following the US adminstrations decision to ban Huewi getting access to US components and materials.

When asked whether Taiwan should seek immunity from the ban in the same way that Australia had sought immunity for select industries, he said “That is an issue that needs to be taken up with the Taiwanese Government, that’s not my job”.

Stan Shih The Founder of Acer (right) still loves to turn up for a booth tour.

Earlier I spoke to Stan Shih the 75-year-old founder, of Acer who despite his age Shih turned up at Acer’s Computex display to inspect the latest gaming and creative hardware the Company is rolling out.

He believes that Acer is in “great shape”.

According to Chan the way forward for Acer is to “innovate and build bigger and better machines”.

Vincent S Lin at todays Concept D event at Computex.

In Australia Acer recently delivered a 173% jump in profits, they are #1 in both the PC gaming and education markets and they are now looking to grow share even further with a bigger focus on the consumer market.

According to Vincent S Lin Acer’s Global Marketing and Branding Vice President Acer Australia is “looking to expand their presence in the consumer market with new slim and extremely fast products as well as expanding our lineup of gaming PC’s”.

Acer is looking to expand their gaming presence as brands such as MSI and ASUS look to expand their marketing presence in Australia.

Lin recently announced that Mike “Shroud” Grzesiek, one of the most popular streamers on Twitch, had accepted a gig as a Predator global brand ambassador. Shroud will help amplify Acer’s Predator line of gaming PCs and monitors to his fans and the gaming community.

He already has appeal among Australian gamers.

Chen who is seen as one of the most “vibrant and dynamic” CEO’s of a major PC brand was mobbed by Chinese and Taiwanese journalists at todays event.

And despite Intel being a major partner of Acer the Company is starting to manufacture products with the latest AMD Ryzen chips to its notebooks.

They recently, updated their Nitro 5 gaming laptop along with the thin-and-light Swift 3.

The current Nitro 5 lineup features models with Ryzen 5 2500U processors, but the refreshed versions can be configured with Ryzen 7 3750H CPUs.
Like the Ryzen 5 configurations, the new laptops feature Radeon RX 560 graphics and 15.6-inch 1080p full HD displays.

Other gamer friendly specs include Acer’s own CoolBoost tech to provide additional cooling performance as needed, as well as its Network Optimizer to clear networking bottlenecks that hinder efficient streaming during game play.

At 1.45 kilo and 0.71 inches thick, the Swift 3 is aimed at the business market.

As a result, the latest configurations include Ryzen 3700 processors, which are far less power hungry than the 3750H chip in the Nitro 5.

Not surprisingly, they ship with integrated Radeon Vega graphics rather than a discrete card, though Acer says it will offer Radeon 540X as an option. The Swift 3’s exterior has also been upgraded, with the company promising thinner bezels and a 180-degree hinged display.

Acer hasn’t disclosed availability or pricing for the Ryzen 7 Swift 3 and Nitro 5.

The Taiwanese Company who chose to display in a major downtown shopping centre in Taipei surrounded by brands such as Channel, Apple, Tiffany and Burberry as opposed to being on the Computex show floor.

Among the key exhibits was the Companies new Concept D range of workstations and notebooks which have been described as the fastest available today for creative professional.

ChannelNews understands that the new range will not be available in Australia until the last quarter.