‘India is a fast-growing market, we want to participate positively’: Acer CEO Jason Chen

When asked about making products in India, Chen said, “We don’t manufacture, but India is an exception.” Acer recently collaborated with Dixon to manufacture laptops. Noida-based Dixon Technologies is an electronics manufacturing services company that manufactures monitors, projectors, and smart home appliances for India and abroad. “We are looking at other possibilities that can fully utilise the manufacturing facility,” the CEO added, hinting at the possibility of manufacturing other products in India.

According to the recent IDC report, Acer is the fifth largest PC company in India in Q3 2023 with an 11.6 per cent market share and it is also one of the major monitor brands in the country. At present, Acer’s manufacturing facility can manufacture up to five lakh laptops per year, and the company also confirmed that it is compliant with the regulations, which require brands to manufacture at least 20 per cent of laptops in the country. Acer also confirmed that the company also exports India-made laptops.

From exploring the realms of AI technology to sustainability in innovation, the Acer Dubai Event 2023 was a success!

With thought-provoking discussions and exciting product releases to wrap up the year, we are committed and excited for a future of #ConsciousTechnology. 🍃✨ pic.twitter.com/UGsguSApep

— Acer (@Acer) December 7, 2023

The company has also licensed its branding to Indkal Technologies to manufacture smart TVs in India. Similarly, the brand has also collaborated with eBikeGo to launch electric vehicles such as the MUVI 125 4G. Besides, Acer also sells several smart home appliances such as smart air purifiers.

When asked about Arm-based laptops from Acer, Jason said, the company has been offering Arm-based Chromebooks for the last four years. He also stated that Windows PCs are likely to remain primarily on x86 architecture-based processors because of Microsoft Windows OS with its native x86-based instruction set and running Windows on an Arm-based chip requires another layer of emulation, which affects the performance.

Acer has been pushing the concept of conscious computing and green initiative for a while with its Vero branding, and the company’s newly announced Aspire Vero 16 is the company’s first “carbon neutral” product and is made out of 60 per cent post-consumer recycled plastic and the trackpad is also made using ocean-bound plastic.

Acer has also made its Vero products repair-friendly, which makes upgrading and repairing a Vero-branded PC a lot easier. The brand is also partnering with select schools in the US to offer an eLearning repair program to qualified students and IT professionals.

The author was in Dubai on the invitation of Acer India.