
Acer India Aims For 20% Market Share in FY26; To Double Retail Presence In Tier III towns
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
With Artificial Intelligence (AI), hybrid work, and digital adoption reshaping consumer patterns, innovation is the only key to staying ahead in the vying tech world. Personal computer (PC) manufacturer Acer India, recently celebrated 25 years in the country, with a diverse portfolio spanning personal computing, gaming, and lifestyle segments. In FY26 it aims at sustaining double-digit growth, consolidating current hold in core categories like PCs, gaming, and commercial devices, while aggressively scaling emerging businesses in AI PCs and consumer electronics. "FY26 represents a defining phase in Acer India's growth journey. We see FY26 as a year where Acer India will not just grow in market share but also deepen its strategic relevance by delivering meaningful innovation, strengthening our local manufacturing ecosystem, and expanding our retail footprint in both metros and emerging markets," said Harish Kohli, president & Managing Director, Acer India.
Acer India has firmly established itself among the top PC brands in the country, closing FY25 with an overall market share of around 15 percent. In consumer notebooks, especially in the thin-and-light and gaming categories, it has gained ground; and in gaming PCs, the Predator and Nitro series have helped the brand be synonymous with performance gaming in India.
"For FY26 and beyond, our ambition is clear — to expand our market share to 18–20 percent, driven by a balanced growth strategy that cuts across product categories, customer segments, and geographies. Our approach is not just to chase numbers but to build long-term consumer relationships and brand loyalty," the CEO said.
The company is aligned with the Make in India initiative, not just as a compliance measure but as a core business strategy. Today, a significant percentage of its commercial desktops, all-in-ones, and an increasing share of notebooks are assembled and configured in India. It has also begun exporting Made-in-India devices to select markets. The investments are directed towards expanding manufacturing capacities in collaboration with OEM partners under the PLI scheme; increasing value addition through local sourcing, assembly, and customization to cater to both domestic and export markets. Besides building strategic partnerships with local manufacturers and global component suppliers, it aims at enhancing the competitiveness of India as a manufacturing hub.
The expansion roadmap ensures Acer is not just a PC brand but a comprehensive technology solutions provider. "In addition to consolidating our leadership in commercial PCs we are expanding aggressively in premium consumer laptops, gaming, and AI-enabled devices. Beyond hardware, we are investing in the gaming ecosystem through partnerships, tournaments like the Predator League, and community engagement. We are also scaling our consumer electronics portfolio with products such as air purifiers, smart TVs, kitchen appliances, and vacuum cleaners. Acerpure is a key growth pillar, supported by local manufacturing and growing retail presence. Enterprise Solutions (Altos) has significant potential in India's data economy and is expanding server and workstation business through Altos India — providing solutions for AI, research, and enterprise computing needs," the CEO explained.
Moreover, the AI laptop market in India is poised for exponential growth over the next three–five years. As AI moves from cloud to edge computing, on-device AI capabilities will become critical — enhancing productivity, security, and user experience. Acer has a strategy to lead in this space by launching cutting-edge AI laptops with on-device NPUs (Neural Processing Units), like the Acer Swift 14 AI and Predator Helios AI series. Acer will offer attractive financing options and bundled offers to drive adoption among students, creators, and professionals. This will be coupled with building awareness through retail experience zones, interactive demos, and digital campaigns to educate customers on the tangible benefits of AI PCs. "We believe AI PCs will be a transformational category — much like the smartphone revolution — and we are committed to being at the forefront of this change in India," he said.
India's growth story is incomplete without the contribution of its Tier II, III cities and Acer is tapping into the market. These markets represent a new wave of aspirational consumers seeking quality products with robust after-sales support. Its retail strategy focuses on expanding exclusive Acer brand stores and partner-led outlets in these cities, strengthening multi-brand distribution partnerships with local channel players, localizing marketing initiatives that connect with community sentiments and consumer needs and enhancing service infrastructure to build lasting customer relationships. "We plan to double our retail footprint in the next two–three years, making Acer accessible to customers across urban and semi-urban India," Kohli added.
The company's long-term vision is to be the most trusted technology partner for Indian consumers and businesses — known for innovation, reliability, and value.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump attacks ‘woke' Jaguar as carmaker names first Indian chief
Jaguar Land Rover has appointed its first Indian chief executive as Donald Trump accused the company of being in 'absolute turmoil' following a 'woke' marketing campaign. PB Balaji, chief financial officer at the the carmaker's Indian owners, Tata Motors, is to take up the post in November as Jaguar deals with the fallout of a rebrand in which it ditched its big cat logo and embraced a new hot pink aesthetic. On Monday, the US president contrasted the fortunes of Britain's Jaguar with American Eagle, a US clothing brand that recently saw its share price surge after debuting an advertising campaign with actress Sydney Sweeney. Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social social media platform: 'Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the 'HOTTEST' ad out there. It's for American Eagle, and the jeans are 'flying off the shelves.' Go get 'em Sydney! 'On the other side of the ledger, Jaguar did a stupid, and seriously WOKE advertisement, THAT IS A TOTAL DISASTER! The CEO just resigned in disgrace, and the company is in absolute turmoil. Who wants to buy a Jaguar after looking at that disgraceful ad.' It comes days after Adrian Mardell, the 64-year-old boss of Jaguar Land Rover, announced his intention to retire. Under Mr Mardell, the car company sought to shake off its traditional image as a brand for 'Jag Men' and instead target a younger demographic. As part of plans to relaunch the brand, Jaguar last year debuted an advertising campaign depicting a bright pink, Mars-like landscape and catwalk models wearing unusual, brightly coloured clothing – but no car. The clip was widely mocked online. Jaguar has also ditched its jumping cat logo and last December debuted a 'Barbie pink' concept car at Miami Art Week. Credit: Jaguar Critics have accused Jaguar of abandoning its core customers. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, accusing Jaguar of going 'absolutely bonkers … showing a bunch of weirdos'. He predicted that the carmaker would 'now go bust. And you know what? They deserve to'. The appointment of Mr Balaji marks the first time Tata Motors has appointed a Jaguar Land Rover leader from within its own ranks since buying the two distinguished British brands from Ford at the height of the financial crisis. Mr Balaji, a mechanical engineering graduate, has worked at Tata Motors for almost eight years and has overseen a turnaround at JLR's parent company. The company has long been a dominant player in the Indian car market but was loss-making when he arrived. Tata Motor's share price has soared around 270pc since he arrived. At Jaguar, Mr Balaji must oversee a make-or-break relaunch of the brand. New Jaguars are currently unavailable in the UK as the carmaker prepares to launch an all-electric range next year. On Monday, Mr Trump said that Jaguar should have 'learned a lesson from Bud Lite, which went Woke and essentially destroyed, in a short campaign, the Company.' Two years ago, Bud Lite enraged Right-wingers in America and saw its sales plummet after it used transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in its marketing. Mr Trump said on Truth Social: 'The tide has seriously turned – Being WOKE is for losers, being Republican is what you want to be.' His comments also came after it emerged that Ms Sweeney was a registered Republican. Records uncovered over the weekend show she registered with the party in June last year. Shares in American Eagle jumped 17pc after the president's endorsement. Jaguar Land Rover's sales dipped to £25.2bn for the year to March 31, down from £25.7bn a year earlier. The company said this was driven by 'the prioritisation of higher margin vehicles'. More recently, the company's business has been hugely disrupted by US tariffs. JLR's sales to the US were temporarily paused in April after Mr Trump announced a 25pc tariff on car imports. The British carmaker sells around 100,000 vehicles each year in the US and the trade war put some £6.5bn in sales at risk. The US-UK trade deal secured a 10pc tariff for the first 100,000 British vehicles exported, seen as predominantly benefitting JLR. Aston Martin has pushed for rules to stop the system becoming 'a JLR tariff agreement'. Last week, the company said: 'Adrian Mardell has expressed his desire to retire from JLR after three years as CEO and 35 years with the company.' Jaguar Land Rover has been approached for comment. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Global M&A hits $2.6 trillion peak year-to-date, boosted by AI and quest for growth
By Emma-Victoria Farr and Amy-Jo Crowley LONDON (Reuters) - Global dealmaking has reached $2.6 trillion, the highest for the first seven months of the year since the 2021 pandemic-era peak, as a quest for growth in corporate boardrooms and the impact of a surge in AI activity has overcome the uncertainty caused by U.S. tariffs. The number of transactions to August 1 is 16% lower than the same time last year, but their value is 28% higher, according to Dealogic data, boosted by U.S. megadeals valued at more than $10 billion. They include Union Pacific Corp's proposed $85 billion acquisition of small rival Norfolk Southern and OpenAI's $40 billion funding round led by Softbank Group. The upsurge will be a relief to bankers who began the year with expectations the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump would lead to a wave of consolidation. Instead, his trade tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty made companies pause until renewed confidence in corporate boardrooms and the U.S. administration's anti-trust agenda changed the mood. "What you're seeing in terms of deal rationale for transactions right now is that it's heavily growth-motivated, and it's increasing," Andre Veissid, EY Global Financial Services Strategy and Transactions Leader, told Reuters. "Whether it's artificial intelligence, the change in the regulatory environment, we see our clients not wanting to be left behind in that race and that's driving activity." Compared with August 2021, when investors, rebounding from pandemic lockdowns drove the value of deals to $3.57 trillion, this year's tally is nearly a $1 trillion, or 27%, lower. Still deal-makers at JPMorgan Chase JP Morgan Chase have said there is more to come, with companies pursuing bigger deals in the second half of the year as executives adapt to volatility. "People have got used to the prevailing uncertainty, or maybe the unpredictability post-U.S. election is just more predictable now," Simon Nicholls, co-head of Slaughter and May Corporate and M&A group, said. Nigel Wellings, Partner at Clifford Chance said the market was moving beyond tariffs. "Boardrooms are seeing the M&A opportunity of a more stable economic environment and positive regulatory signals. But it is not a frothy market." FROM HEALTH TO TECH While the healthcare sector drove M&A in the years after the pandemic, the computer and electronics industry has produced more takeover bids in the U.S. and the United Kingdom in the last two years, according to Dealogic. Artificial intelligence is expected to drive more dealmaking. M&A activity has increased around data centre usage, such as Samsung's $1.7 billion acquisition of Germany's FlaktGroup, a data centre cooling specialist. Palo Alto Networks $25 billion deal for Israeli cybersecurity peer CyberArk was the largest deal in Europe, Middle East and Africa so far this year as rising AI-driven threats push companies to adopt stronger defences. Private equity, which had been sitting on the sidelines, has once again been active, with Sycamore Partners' $10 billion deal to take private Walgreens Boots Alliance and a sweetened $6.4 billion offer from Advent for UK scientific instrument maker Spectris. The U.S. was the biggest market for M&A, accounting for more than half of the global activity. Asia Pacific's dealmaking doubled over the same year to date period last year, outpacing the EMEA region.

Engadget
16 minutes ago
- Engadget
ChatGPT will now remind you to take breaks, following mental health concerns
OpenAI has announced that ChatGPT will now remind users to take breaks if they're in a particularly long chat with AI. The new feature is part of OpenAI's ongoing attempts to get users to cultivate a healthier relationship with the frequently compliant and overly-encouraging AI assistant. The company's announcement suggests the "gentle reminders" will appear as pop-ups in chats that users will have to click or tap through to continue using ChatGPT. "Just Checking In," OpenAI's sample pop-up reads. "You've been chatting for a while — is this a good time for a break?" The system is reminiscent of the reminders some Nintendo Wii and Switch games will show you if you play for an extended period of time, though there's an unfortunately dark context to the ChatGPT feature. The "yes, and" quality of OpenAI's AI and it's ability to hallucinate factually incorrect or dangerous responses has led users down dark paths, The New York Times reported in June — including suicidal ideation. Some of the users whose delusions ChatGPT indulged already had a history of mental illness, but the chatbot still did a bad job of consistently shutting down unhealthy conversations. OpenAI acknowledges some of those shortcomings in its blog post, and says that ChatGPT will be updated in the future to respond more carefully to "high-stakes personal decisions." Rather than provide a direct answer, the company says the chatbot will help users think through problems, offer up questions and list pros and cons. OpenAI obviously wants ChatGPT to feel helpful, encouraging and enjoyable to use, but it's not hard to package those qualities into an AI that's sycophantic. The company was forced to rollback an update to ChatGPT in April that lead the chatbot to respond in ways that were annoying and overly-agreeable. Taking breaks from ChatGPT — and having the AI do things without your active participation — will make issues like that less visible. Or, at the very least, it'll give users time to check whether the answers ChatGPT is providing are even correct.