Acer chief retires, Lanci named new prez

TAIPEI: Acer Inc. Chairman Stan Shih, who founded Taiwan's most successful computer brand, will retire next year, when an Italian executive will be promoted to president, Acer said.

Taiwan's largest personal computer company, appointed Gianfranco Lanci, now head of international operations, as the replacement for President J.T. Wang, who will become chairman when Shih retires on January 1, 2005.

"To integrate global resources is very critical, and Lanci's efforts to expand the Acer brand into the European market have reaped tremendous results," Shih, one of Asia's best known technology leaders, told a news conference.

Lanci, 50, joined Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) in 1981 and became the managing director of Acer Italy in 1997, when TI's portable PC business merged with Acer.

Under his leadership, Acer became the top seller of laptop computers in Europe -- which accounts for 60 percent of revenue -- and the Middle East and Africa in the second quarter of 2004.

Lanci said he plans to keep Acer's strategy of outsourcing production so it can focus on marketing its own brand.

"We have a very good foundation. Taking a new post doesn't mean there'll be changes immediately," Lanci said.

In a bid to cut costs, Acer spun off its contract manufacturing unit, Wistron Corp., in 2000 and farmed out production to companies like Quanta Computer Inc.

The restructuring has helped reverse steep losses, and the Acer-brand business started making money in 2002.

Acer was the world's seventh largest PC vendor in the third quarter of 2003 and moved up to fifth in the first quarter of 2004, taking up a market share of 3.3 percent globally.

That compares with Dell Inc.'s 18.6 percent and Hewlett-Packard Co.'s 15.5 percent, according to data from research firm International Data Center (IDC).

Lanci's appointment was long expected by the market and came after the close of trade, when Acer shares finished flat at T$45.30 (US$1.33), while the main TAIEX share index rose 1.61 percent.

Acer has said shipments of desktop computers, which make up 30 to 40 percent of total sales, are expected to double this year. It aims to become the world's third largest PC vendor within three years.

Reuters