Acer denies talking with Siemens

TAIPEI: Acer Inc, Taiwan's largest personal computer company, denied on Monday a report that it was in advanced talks with Siemens to become a partner in the Germany firm's ailing mobile phones unit.

"There has been no contact (between the firms) at all," said Henry Wang, an Acer spokesman.

The report "is not true", he said.

Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung cited sources as saying that engineering conglomerate Siemens was in talks with Acer and other interested parties concerning its mobile phones unit.

Siemens recently launched a huge cost-cutting drive at the loss-making unit, whose problems the company has said must be solved before the business can be sold or put into a partnership.

The newspaper said Acer wanted to expand from its core business of computers into multimedia electronics. Siemens declined to comment on the report.

Like other PC vendors in Japan and the United States, Acer subcontracts manufacturing to Taiwan companies, such as laptop maker Quanta Computer Inc., to reduce costs.