The Information Technology 100
22
Acer
J.T. Wang, the CEO of Acer, is enjoying the opportunity to crow. It wasn't that long ago that people dismissed the Taiwanese PC company as an also-ran that had no future in a world dominated by Dell and its direct-sales model. But Acer roared back to life in 2004, and is now one of the world's top five PC brands. Wang, formerly No. 2 to longtime Acer boss Stan Shih, took the helm this year after Shih's retirement and is now pushing to expand in China and the U.S., a market that Acer abandoned in 1999 but re-entered in 2003.
Wang senses another opportunity, thanks to IBM's sale of its PC business to Lenovo and the skittishness that he predicts longtime IBM users will feel about suddenly working with a Chinese company. "I think more channels and end users will leave than will stay," says Wang. And that, he believes, will be a boon to Acer, giving him one more thing to crow about.
Company Info
| STOCK INFO | NA |
| Revenues* | $6.7 BILLION |
| Revenue Growth | 42.7% |
| Return on Equity | 11.6% |
| Total Return | 47.1% |
| Profits* | $210.2 MILLION |
| Industry | COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS |
| CORPORATE WEB SITE | |
All figures are for the most recent available 12 months.
* Latest available data for the 12-month period ended Dec. 31, Jan. 31, Feb. 29, Mar. 31, or Apr. 30. For companies that do not report quarterly, the most recent annual data were used.
Data provided by Standard & Poor's Compustat, BusinessWeek
Why Taiwan Matters
Taiwan's Tech Clout
Stan Shih on Taiwan and China
Stan Shih, Chairman, Acer Inc., Taiwan
Acer: Riding a Hot Streak
Company Snapshot
Acer Incorporated engages in the sale and maintenance of information technology products under the brand name, Acer. It sells channels of computers and related products, electronic communication equipment, and integrated circuits. The company’s activities also include investment in various companies, property development, Internet related activities, e-commerce, electronic data supply or processing service, and data storage. It also engages in the research, development, design, trading, and consultation of software. The company primarily operates in Taiwan, North America, and Europe.
No. of Employees
NA
Data provided by 
J. T. Wang
Bio
J.T. Wang has served as Chairman and CEO of Acer since 2005, when he succeeded Acer Founder, Stan Shih, upon Mr. Shih's retirement. Mr. Wang joined Multitech, the forerunner of Acer, in 1981 as a sales engineer and became President of Acer Sertek, the sales and marketing division in Taiwan, in 1990. After Acer's second group reengineering in 2000, Mr. Wang became President of Acer Inc., to focus on marketing the Acer brand IT products and services. Mr. Wang holds a bachelor's degree in electric engineering from the National Taiwan University and completed an Executive MBA from the National Cheng-Chi University, in Taiwan.