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Metro Pacific’s Cavite toll roads adopt upgraded toll collection system

MPCALA Holdings Inc said it entered into a partnership with Egis Projects Philippines, Inc (EPPI) to operate an electronic toll collection system for the Cavite-Laguna Expressway and Manila-Cavite Expressway, which will allow transactions of 1,200 vehicles per hour.
“It’ s a first in the Philippines which is system capable to transact 1,200 vehicles per hour …without any barriers. It is a big jump from the RFID (radio frequency identification capacity) of 700 to 800 vehicles per hour at present. Our objective in using this new Toll Collection System is for our motorists to experience seamless, fast, and reliable cashless transactions, making them spend less time on the road and more time with their families,” MPCALA and CAVITEX president and chief executive officer Luigi L. Bautista said in a statement.
“With Egis, bringing this technology to the MPTC tollroad networks, we will expect a more efficient travel experience, and also boost tourism, trade and commerce in the areas being linked by our thoroughfares,” Mr. Bautista added, referring to Metro Pacific Tollways Corp.
CALAEX is a MPCALA concession, while CAVITEX is the concession of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. wholly-owned subsidiary Cavitex Infrastructure Corporation.
EPPI president and managing director Jean-Claude Neumann said that the toll collection system will be a “breakthrough” in the industry by making transactions free-flowing.
“One of the advanced features of this ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) system is the automatic license plate recognition solution technology which will help motorists experience uninterrupted and faster toll transactions. Through these unhampered transactions, we can lessen their travel time,” Mr. Neumann added.
According to MPTC, the system will be installed in phases as each section of CALAEX is completed and become operational, while upgrades will be conducted by CAVITEX to its existing system.
The new system will be designed to be compatible and interoperable with other toll roads’ ETC systems, MPTC said.
CAVITEX is currently being expanded by MPTC with the construction of a 7.7-kilometer C5 South-Link which will traverse Taguig, Las Piñas, and Parañaque.
CALAEX is a 45-km road between Mamplasan, Laguna connecting to CAVITEX in Kawit. The Laguna section is expected to be opened by December.
MPTC is the tollways unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC). MPIC is one of three Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., others being PLDT, Inc. and Philex Mining Corp. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio

AC Infra, Zalora unit in logistics investment tieup

THE infrastructure unit of Ayala Corp. (AC) is teaming up with Germany’s Brillant 1257 GmbH & Co. Vierte Verwaltungs Kg. (Brillant) to form a new holding company that will handle investments in the logistics sector.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange after Friday trading, Ayala Corp said its unit AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. (AC Infra) will hold a 60% interest in the new firm, while the 40% balance will be held by Brillant.
The newly-incorporated firm will handle AC’s investments in courier and freight forwarding services, according to the disclosure.
AC’s partner for the venture is an affiliate of online fashion platform Zalora. In September 2017, the Ayala group also acquired a 49% stake in Zalora’s operator, Global Fashion Group, in a bid to ride the growth opportunities offered by e-commerce.
Earlier this year, AC Infra also announced that it will be investing in firms that offer fulfillment solutions services in partnership with Brillant.
The Ayala group has recently been ramping its logistics business. Prime Orion Philippines, Inc. (POPI) of Ayala Land, Inc. is being positioned as a developer of logistics facilities and industrial parks.
POPI acquired in April a majority stake in Laguna Technopark, Inc., which develops logistics facilities. The 460-hectare Laguna Technopark is located in Santa Rosa and Biñan.
Ayala Corp.’s net profit attributable to the parent rose 7% to P16.1 billion in the first six months of 2018, driven by a 20% increase in revenue to P148.7 billion.
Ayala Corp rose 1.01% or P10 to P1,000 in Friday trading. — Arra B. Francia

FDC hopes to complete Clark hotel expansion by SEA Games

FILINVEST Development Corp. (FDC) is hoping to complete the renovation and expansion of its Quest Hotel and Conference Center in Clark, Pampanga in time for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
Quest Hotel General Manager Patrick Beck said the group will develop a new building that can accommodate 250 additional rooms.
“We have an additional 250 rooms which we hope can be built some time next year because we need it. That will be another tower on the north side of the building, that’s where the parking lot is at,” Mr. Beck told reporters at a news conference at the hotel on Aug. 23.
Quest Hotel currently offers a total of 303 rooms, which FDC renovated after taking over from the previous operator, the Holiday Inn group. Mr. Beck noted that the hotel’s average occupancy rate is around 79%, pointing to the potential for greater room demand.
Rooms in the second to sixth floors of the 12-storey building are expected to be completed by next year.
“Hopefully earlier, because Clark will be the main venue for the SEA Games. We hope to be ready before that, because we know the athletes are going to be here earlier. So we’re very much excited for that,” Mr. Beck said.
Aside from the additional rooms, the Filinvest group will open a new restaurant called Mekeni Live in the hotel lobby, which can seat up to 220 diners. The company said the buffet restaurant will feature cook-to-order stations.
FDC said a new building will have a grand pavilion targeted at the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and events) market.
“The grand pavilion will be close to the golf course. That’s another building, we have the provision for that. Probably again by the end of the year, and it will be a building on its own for events. We have a high demand from the MICE business,” Mr. Beck said, noting that the ballroom will accommodate 400 people.
Quest Hotel is within the 201-hectare Filinvest Mimosa+ Leisure City, around half of which is covered by a 36-hole golf course.
FDC plans to invest $200 million to develop the estate’s entertainment and hospitality components, which will also include a casino, lifestyle mall, and another five-star hotel. With these projects in the pipeline, FDC is positioning Mimosa+ Leisure City as a leisure and business destination in the Clark Special Economic Zone.
FDC was unchanged at P7.05 in Friday trading. — Arra B. Francia

Peso weakens amid further trade war worries

THE peso weakened against the dollar on Friday as risk appetite was subdued following remarks by US President Donald J. Trump on the trade war with China.
The peso ended the month at P53.475 against the dollar, 4.5 centavos weaker than the Thursday close.
The peso was weaker all session, opening at P53.48. The intraday low was P53.51, while the high was P53.45.
Trading volume was $383.85 million, down from $501.29 million Thursday.
A foreign exchange trader said the peso traded within its “usual” range.
“It didn’t go beyond the usual range — it continued to move within a very tight range as we all know that the agent banks are selling at around P53.50-P53.55,” the trader said in a phone interview.
Another trader concurred, saying that the market opted to sell near the P53.55 level because “the up-move is capped.”
“We saw risk-off trading throughout the day due to the headlines overnight regarding Trump,” he added.
Mr. Trump told his aides he is ready to impose additional tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports as early as next week, Bloomberg said in a report.
Companies and individuals have until Sept. 6 to submit comment on the proposed levies.
Washington and Beijing raised tariffs on each country’s products following an impasse during low-level meetings last week.
“He also delivered threats of the US leaving the World Trade Organization (WTO),” the trader added.
The president threatened in an interview with Bloomberg to withdraw from the WTO if “they don’t shape up.” Mr. Trump has criticized the organization for allowing the US to be treated unfairly in global trade.
A third trader added that the peso weakened following the “firm PCE (personal consumption expenditures) inflation data which strengthened the views that the Federal Reserve will raise rates in September.”
Prices continued to edge up in July, with the PCE price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, rising to 0.2% from 0.1% in June. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

Window-dressing enables bourse to end flat

By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
THE MAIN INDEX ended Friday flat and closed the week and the month higher due to month-end window-dressing after spending most of Friday in the red due to investor caution on nagging global trade worries as well as Argentina’s and Turkey’s economic woes.
The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index eked out a 0.03% or 2.55-point gain to end 7,855.71 on Friday — was up for the second straight week by 1.15% and marked a multi-month peak — while the broader all shares index added 0.24% or 11.43 points to 4,722.33.
“The local barometer traded in the red for the majority of the session, although month-end window dressing via market-on-close orders raised the PSEi to end in the green…” RCBC Securities, Inc. said in a Stock Market Weekend Recap attributed to research analyst John Paolo D. Ayson, noting that “US President Trump’s plan to impose new tariffs on China and Beijing’s plan to limit new online games weighed… on the majority of Asian markets today.”
“A combination of a rebalancing of the MSCI portfolio, window dressing, trade war resumption were what led the PSEi to a flat finish for the last day of August,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Managing Director Luis A. Limlingan said in a mobile message.
President Donald J. Trump was reported to be in favor of proceeding with a plan to slap tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. The United States government gave companies until Sept. 6 to comment on the proposed duties.
Papa Securities Corp. trader Gabriel Jose F. Perez noted via e-mail that “[t]he PSEi was in fact trading in the red the entire day from negative sentiment on emerging markets due to Argentina’s and Turkey’s economic problems”, adding that “[v]alue turnover also spiked to… P8.0B from light trading during the day, which could be attributed to MSCI’s rebalancing.”
Reuters reported that Wall Street ended its four-day winning streak on Thursday ahead of a long holiday weekend, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.53% to 25,986.92, the S&P 500 Index falling by 0.44% to 2,901.13 and the Nasdaq Composite Index giving up 0.26% to 8,088.36.
Most major Asian bourses also fell on Friday: Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Topix Index by 0.02% and 0.22%, respectively; Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index by 0.98%; the Shanghai Composite Index by 0.46%; the blue-chip Shanghai-Shenzhen CSI 300 by 0.50% and the Jakarta Composite by 0.01%.
South Korea’s KOSPI, however, chalked up a 0.67% gain.
LOCAL SENTIMENT STILL CAUTIOUS OVERALL
Friday’s finish marks a 2.39% increase from the PSEi’s close of 7,672 on July 31.
Still, four of the six sectoral indices ended in negative territory, led by financials which gave up 0.63% or 11.59 points to 1,810.09, followed by mining & oil that lost 0.49% or 48.67 points to 9,903.96, property which dropped 0.14% or 5.52 points to 3,945.53 and industrial which slipped by 0.12% or 14.21 points to 11,272.85.
On the other hand, holding firms advanced 0.35% or 27.19 points to 7,764.67, while services gained 0.12% or 1.84 points to 1,537.18.
Turnover climbed to P8.021 billion after some 1.084 billion issues switched hands from Thursday’s 1.249 billion shares worth P6.332 billion.
Stocks that declined outnumbered those that gained, 107 to 91, while 46 others were unchanged.
Investors abroad remained predominantly bearish for the second straight day, yielding net foreign sales of P45.414 million that were nevertheless less than half Thursday’s P105.35-million net foreign outflows.
Friday’s list of 20 most active stocks was equally divided between those that gained and those that lost.
Among the day’s gainers were shares in San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc.; Bloomberry Resorts Corp.; Alliance Global Group, Inc. and Ayala Corp. which posted gains of 5.32%, 3.13%, 1.62% and 1.01%, respectively.
Those that lost included shares in Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co.; Megaworld Corp.; GT Capital Holdings, Inc. and Universal Robina Corp. were among the losers, shedding 1.21%, 2.13%, 1.57%, and 0.78%, respectively.

Lazada Philippines plans expanding next-day delivery services

By Anna Gabriela A. Mogato
E-commerce site Lazada Philippines is eyeing to expand its next-day delivery services by setting up warehouses in Visayas and Mindanao.
Lazada chief executive officer Raymond Alimurung during the unveiling of a new feature on its website, LazMall, on Friday, Aug. 31, said that the company will begin to experiment next-day delivery in areas near Metro Manila.
“We will start within Metro Manila’s perimeters first. We are planning to build warehouses in Cebu then in Davao,” he added.
“But this is not something we can promise right now,” Mr. Alimurung also said, noting that they also plant to expand LazMall’s offerings.
Lazada unveiled LazMall, a premium feature offering authentic top-rated brands. LazMall, which will launch in September, is said to focus more on quality and will feature only authentic food.
“The likelihood that the product is no authentic is almost impossible,” Mr. Alimurung said.
“We are not working with any seller. They have to be appointed by the brand.”

MWSS downplays fears of water shortage in 2021

Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) has downplayed the alarm sounded off by one of its water concessionaire that the Philippine capital is likely to experience water shortage if alternative sources are not built in the next three years.
In a statement on Friday, MWSS Administrator Reynaldo V. Velasco has reassured consumers that there would be adequate supply of potable water in the coming years and that shortage would not take place before the end of the Duterte administration’s term in 2022.
“There is no looming water shortage and we will always uphold the best interest of the people,” he said.
Mr. Velasco was reacting to concerns raised by Manila Water Co., Inc. that the water from Angat dam for Metro Manila’s east zone at 1,600 million liters per day (MLD) is inadequate to meet existing demand of 1,650 MLD.
Geodino V. Carpio, Manila Water chief operating officer, told reporters on Wednesday that the company is filling the existing deficiency with supply from La Mesa dam, which he said was not meant for impounding water for distribution.
Mr. Carpio said Manila Water’s new water system in Cardona, Rizal province will add 100 MLD by year end, but it is good to meet the increase in demand in the next two years, or until 2021 if “stretched.”
A proposed project in Laguna Lake that can supply 250 MLD is up for MWSS approval. It can meet demand until 2023, when the Kaliwa dam in Quezon province is targeted to be completed.
Mr. Velasco said under the Duterte administration, MWSS is on a “catch up mode in terms of creating new water sources following more than 30 years of not developing major water supply projects to address the growing demand in Metro Manila due to population growth and development.”
But more than two years into its term, the administration has yet to close the financing for Kaliwa dam, which is expected to provide 650 MLD, of which about half will be allocated to Manila Water. — Victor V. Saulon

Auto sales decline further in July

Automobile sales further declined in July, according to the latest report by auto and truck manufacturers.
In the joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. and by the Truck Manufacturers Association on Friday, vehicles sales in the month of July to 28,038 units, down by 24.1% from a year earlier.
Compared to the previous month’s sales, this is a 4.5% contraction. Auto sales last June already dropped 21.7% in a year-on-year comparison  and also posted a 4% contraction from sales registered last May.
This brings year to date sales down by 14.4% to 199,628 units, the report showed.
The car industry has been wary of posting lower sales since last year before the TRAIN law was passed. In 2017, CAMPI and TMA said consumers buying vehicles before new excise taxes took effect resulted to higher sales.
Under the first package of the TRAIN law, vehicles worth under P600,000 are set to have 3% excise tax, while automobiles priced P4 million and higher are slapped with a 50% levy.
Previous tax rates for these cars were at 2% and 22%, respectively.
In July, passenger car sales dropped by 45.1% in a yearly comparison to 6,975 units. In a monthly comparison, this was also a 10.2% drop. This brings to a total of 63,004 units sold in the first seven months, down by 21.1% in a year on year comparison.
Commercial vehicles on the other hand, posted a slightly better performance with 21,063 units sold, only 13.1% lower from a comparative period last year. Month on month, commercial vehicle sales slid by 2.4%.
This brought year to date sales 10.8% lower to 136,669 units, the report showed. — Anna Gabriela A. Mogato

A rising tide of progress in Manila Bay Area

The economic potential of the Philippines is no longer an unrecognized fact. Countless reports and studies have been made about the country’s rapid economic growth, and even more investments are being poured into the country by investors looking to capitalize on its potential.

The Philippines is now in its seventh year of a house price boom, according to a report by the Global Property Guide. Citing data from international property services firm Colliers International, the report stated that nationwide residential property prices are expected to continue to rise strongly in 2018, boosted by robust economic growth.

“Demand remains strong. In 2017, the take-up of pre-sold condominium units throughout Metro Manila, including fringe locations, rose by 52,600 units, up 24% from a year earlier and the highest level ever in the country’s capital, according to Colliers International. This was mainly due to strong demand from starting families and young professionals. Household formation has increased by an average of 3% every year in the past five years,” the report said.

“In Makati CBD, property prices have risen by almost 60% from Q1 2011 to Q4 2017, amidst rapid economic growth. Yet prices are not high, and yields are good, and the Philippine economy is in the 7th year of strong growth.”

The same could be said of the other central business districts in Metro Manila. Rockwell Center’s average prices for a 3-bedroom condominium rose by 11.7% (8.1% inflation-adjusted) to P221,150 ($4,249) per square meter (sq. m.) in 2017, while in Bonifacio Global City, the average price for a 3-bedroom condominium increased by 4.3% (1% inflation-adjusted) to P175,700 ($3,376) per sq. m. over the same period.

Manila, the capital, is also flourishing, particularly its Bay Area. In terms of numbers, Manila Bay Area is not too far behind the three major central business districts — Bonifacio Global City, Makati City and Ortigas — when it comes to residential condominium and office units, making it among the fastest-growing areas in the metro.

It’s no wonder. Close proximity to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport as well as the three major CBDs make it a perfect hub of commercial and economic activity. The area is culturally significant as well, with the Cultural Center of the Philippines breathing life into the Bay’s inhabitants.

Billions of dollars of investments have been made to develop the Bay Area into a central lifestyle and business district. Manila Bay is home to developments like the SM Mall of Asia, the country’s third biggest mall; Aseana City, an integrated mixed-use central business district; and Entertainment City with Las Vegas-style casinos, amusement parks, theaters, office building, hotels, residential buildings and resorts.

Entertainment City, in particular, includes the resort complexes of Solaire Resort & Casino, City of Dreams Manila, Okada Manila and Resorts World Bayshore. The E-City project, as it is otherwise known, is spearheaded by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., and is a 60-hectare project envisioned to be the entertainment capital of Asia.

The future of the Bay Area

More than that, the Bay Area is also garnering attention due to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) recently signed by the Philippine and Dutch governments seeking the sustainable development and management of the entire area.

Under the MoU, the two governments will work together toward the formulation of the Manila Bay Sustainable Development Master Plan, which is envisioned to guide future decisions on programs and projects to be undertaken within the Bay area.

“We are fortunate to have the Dutch with us in this endeavor. Their extensive knowledge and experience in implementing programs and projects that protect vulnerable coastal zones are unparalleled,” National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said during the signing ceremony.

He noted that as the Dutch are known to live at or below sea level, their integrated and innovative solutions in coastal management that mimic natural systems instead of working against them could be extremely beneficial to a country like the Philippines.

The preliminary activities for the master-planning exercise began in 2015, when the Philippine government requested the Dutch government to dispatch a group of Dutch Disaster Risk Reduction experts to Manila to conduct a scoping mission aimed at identifying and assessing the current situation in the Manila Bay area and afterward recommend measures for its sustainable development.

After the mission, the Dutch experts confirmed the urgent need for a framework for the development and management of the Bay Area. The findings prompted the Philippine government to appropriate P250 million of the 2017 NEDA budget for the formulation of the master plan.

A tech visionary

From its humble beginnings in a guard house in Beijing, the company that later came to be known as Lenovo grew to a Fortune 500 company, known all over the world as one of the leading technology firms in the market.

Known initially as Legend Holdings, the company was founded in 1984 by Liu Chuanzhi and a group of ten engineers in Beijing, with a capital investment of only 200,000 yuan or $25,000 to begin their operations. The visionary team’s innovative efforts led to the development of an IBM-compatible circuit board that was capable of reading Chinese characters. Such an innovation received the highest National Science Technology Progress Award in China and was Legend’s first major breakthrough, a taste of things to come.

In 1988, the company opened for business in Hong Kong and, within eight years, became China’s largest PC company.

Legend continued the development of game-changing technologies, like the DeepComp 1800 supercomputer, China’s first computer with 1,000 GFLOP (floating point operations per second). It was the country’s fastest computer for civilian use, ranking among the world’s fastest computers.

In 2004, Legend undertook a massive rebranding ahead of its acquisition of IBM’s Personal Computing Division. The rest, as they say, is history.

From a small team of engineers, Lenovo is now a company of 55,000 employees serving customers in over 160 countries, including the Philippines. The company offers a portfolio of products and services including workstations, servers, storage solutions, IT management software, tablets, and smartphones.

“As the world becomes faster, more demanding, and more competitive, so has our business. By continually innovating, we enable our customers to challenge and inspire everyone around them. And help keep things moving forward in a more interesting way,” Lenovo writes on its website.

As a multinational company that is incorporated and headquartered in Hong Kong, Lenovo strategically holds operational centers around the world to drive its global and local business approach.

“Lenovo organizes its worldwide operations with the view that a truly global company must be able to quickly capitalize on new ideas and opportunities from anywhere. By foregoing a traditional headquarters model and focusing on centers of excellence around the world, Lenovo makes maximum use of its resources to create the best products in the most efficient and effective way possible. In addition, our dispersed structure keeps us closer to customers, enabling Lenovo to react quickly to local market requirements,” Lenovo writes.

In the Philippines, Lenovo offers a portfolio of high-quality, secure products and services that cover PCs (including the legendary Think and multimode YOGA brands), workstations, servers, storage, a family of mobile products like smartphones (including the Moto brand), and tablets through its partnership with Integrated Computer Systems, Inc. (ICS).

“ICS is one of the very first channel partners of Lenovo. Our partnership started way back in the 80’s in the commercial PC business. Recently, ICS was named a Lenovo Platinum Partner, the highest partnership level for Lenovo PC business in the Philippines,” the company says.

“Through the years, ICS has built a strong and resilient relationship with Lenovo. ICS has been a crucial factor in growing global, key, and small to medium-sized business accounts’ revenue and customer base.”

Through its three-decade-long partnership with ICS, Lenovo has become one of the top PC brands in the country. And it aims to continue its history of excellence.

As the world moves forward with technologies like augmented and virtual reality, smart offices that serve to enhance employee productivity no matter where they may be, or even technologies like the Internet of Things and cloud computing, Lenovo plans to be there each step of the way.

“At Lenovo, our vision [is to be able] to create personal devices more people are inspired to own, a culture more people aspire to join, and an enduring, trusted business that is well respected around the world. This vision guides us in pursuit of our mission to become one of the world’s great personal technology companies,” Lenovo writes.

Reinventing the world, one gadget at a time

Hewlett-Packard (HP) Company is known for being a modern reinventor that brings meaningful innovations to life. It is guided by the mission of helping customers turn their ideas into value, and empowering them to transform industries, markets, and lives through the use of technology.

In the Philippines, HP has been reinventing the lives of Filipinos for 23 years now through HP PPS Philippines Inc. (HPI), which operates as a regional sales and marketing subsidiary of the US-based company.

HPI provides a wide selection of technology and office automation equipment to local customers across different sectors, including consumers, corporate, small business, and the government.

HPI’s portfolio is comprised of personal computers (PC), printing and imaging devices, and HP’s most profitable products such as ink, laser toners, paper, and other supplies for computer printers. In addition, it also offers IT services like consulting, maintenance, product integration, and software customization.

At present, HPI is one of the top-ranking PC brands and print products purveyors in the Philippines. This has become possible with the help of Integrated Computer Systems, Inc. (ICS), an official reseller of HP-branded products in the country.

ICS is one of the country’s leading IT solutions providers, with 40 years of experience in providing technological expertise and nationwide sales and services. The company is known for delivering only the best technologies and for providing solutions that offer great value to customers.

Over the past decades, ICS steadily grew its business and built a respectable name in the industry because of its strong partnerships with renowned IT brands across the globe like HP.

ICS has been an HPI platinum partner for the past two decades. It has one of the biggest deployments of HP PC and print business for commercial customers.

Aside from its reputable name, ICS has become an important and strategic business partner of HP in attaining its goals through its wide market coverage and business capacity.

Within two decades of strong partnership, ICS has consistently received recognition from HPI for its outstanding performance. In 2017 alone, ICS was awarded as the HP Corporate Reseller Partner of the Year, HP Outstanding Corporate Reseller for Print Hardware, HP Outstanding Corporate Reseller for Print Supplies, HP Outstanding MVC Partner, HP Elite Award — Best MVC Program Performance, HP SMB Partner — Top SSP Account for Q317-Q417, HP SMB Partner — Top SMB Supplies for Q317-Q417, HP SMB Partner Quota Achievers — PC Reseller for Q317-Q417, HP SMB Partner — Top SSP Reseller for Q317-Q417, and HP SMB Partner Quota Achiever — Supplies Reseller for Q317-Q41.

In the coming years, HP plans to focus on continuing its commercial business in the Philippines by targeting specific local segments, such as business process outsourcing companies, government, conglomerates and other growth industries.

AMD or Intel: A battle of processors

Laptop is a necessity more than an extravagance for many people these days. It is important for students and professionals alike. With the advent of technology, there are now various options to choose from. But before one can choose the right device to use, there are also many factors to consider before buying. One of those is the central processing unit (CPU).

CPU, or simply processor, is the brain of every computer. It is basically the one responsible for all the tasks a computer carries out. That is why it is of utmost importance that one should select the one that fits one’s needs.

When it comes to processors, Intel, a semiconductor chipmaker based in Silicon Valley, is definitely a top-of-mind brand as most computers are powered by an Intel CPU. But Advanced Micro Devices (Intel), also a semiconductor company, has given Intel a run for its money and has been gaining market share in recent years. While Intel has been producing its own chips through its various factories, it is only with the acquisition of ATI, a manufacturer of graphics processing unit and chipset, by AMD in 2006 that paved the way for the firm to join Intel in delivering integrated graphics chips. Though AMD outsources its manufacturing, it still does research and development in-house.

Consumers are not only after the goodness of the products that they intend to buy. Of course, they will go for the brand with the best value for money. With this in mind, AMD chips are way cheaper compared with the ones by Intel. But AMD has also launched high-end processors called Ryzen. Still, Intel boasts a huge portfolio as compared to AMD, which is why there are still budget-friendly Intel CPUs that perform better than their competitors. In the low end of the market, however, Intel and AMD processors typically retail at about the same price, according to TechRadar, a technology-focused online publication.

With the rise of gaming here in the country, enthusiasts should know better by using a discrete graphics card or GPU (graphics processing unit), rather than an integrated CPU, especially when building a gaming PC. For laptops, however, performance- and graphic-wise, it is still possible to play on a device with integrated graphics.

While Intel produces 3D graphics, it is in integrated graphics that it stands out. Most laptop brands with Intel processor already have a separate integrated graphics on-board. It is highly efficient when it comes to single-core tasks and power-saving performance. AMD, on the other hand, has developed a single chip called Accelerated Processing Unit that combines its processor cores and its Radeon-branded graphic cores, which makes it better when it comes to high-end graphics for gaming. It is also better at carrying out numerous tasks all at once but is prone to excessive heating.

It is explained in an article by Matthew Smith in Digital Trends, a technology Web site, that Intel puts CPU processing power first rather than the graphics, which is why CPU cores are important to Intel, while AMD goes for performance per watt.

When talking about parts and availability, AMD has compatibility issues due to limited stocks of parts. Both processors have different motherboards and sockets, although Intel parts can be sourced everywhere in contrast to AMD’s.

Given all that, choosing a processor really depends on the level of functionality a consumer will require of his or her laptop computer. Be it for gaming, school or work, there is surely a suitable processor for a given purpose on the market.

But Intel and AMD are not resting on their laurels: they still keep on outdoing each another, especially when it comes to their latest innovations — and this is a win for ordinary consumers.

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