DuPont Co, one of the world's largest chemical suppliers, is accelerating expansion plans in Taiwan to keep pace with rising demand for materials used in consumer electronics, a company official said yesterday.
The US chemical giant said it could accept no more orders for delivery this year of chemicals used in the production of liquid-crystal displays and printed circuit boards, said Diane H. Gulyas, group vice president DuPont's Electronic and Communication Technologies.
"The global tech recovery just came back faster than we thought ... Now we're rapidly expanding capacity around the world ... But I think the supply will remain tight during the second half of this year," Gulyas told reporters in Taipei.
She admitted that the spike in demand had resulted in a rise in prices.
To catch up with the strong demand, DuPont plans to triple the capacity of its factory in Taoyuan, the company's largest plant in the Asia-Pacific region, said Walt Cheng (
The annual output of the factory is expected to soar to 3 million tonnes of polyimide film, flexible polyimide laminate and screen printable materials used in the production of computers, cars, displays and bio-medical sensors, according to Cheng.
The capacity expansion will also extend to Dupont's Chinese plant in Donnguan.
"We plan to double the output," Cheng said.
"Even so, we're still uncertain about whether the supply constraints will ease during the second half," Cheng said, because shipments will be capped by the ongoing tight supply of precious metals.
In addition to the capacity expansion, DuPont yesterday announced it was spending US$20 million to US$30 million over three years on setting up a technical application center in Taoyuan.
In the first phase, DuPont will hire about 25 to 30 technological researchers, Cheng said.
The new lab will focus on developing technologies in the areas of displays, semiconductors and alternative energy to keep up with demand from customers who are aggressively expanding their semiconductor and flat-panel operations.
"We already talked to a lot of Taiwan's display companies to understand their needs, especially when they are expanding to sixth-and seventh-generation plants that produce bigger panels," Gulyas said.
A DisplaySearch report released in late January said that AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and its Taiwanese peers are expected to lead equipment spending this year and will account for half of the total US$9.42 billion for the world's thin-film-transistor LCD makers.
"It's good to see DuPont joining the game as Taiwan's market has long been dominated by Japanese optoelectronic material suppliers such as JSR Corp," commented Aldirich Lai (
But it will be a challenge for DuPont to take market share from its Japanese rivals, which have been supplying high-quality electronic and display materials for Taiwan's LCD industry.
Another unfavorable factor is the timing, he said. DuPont is entering the market just as the boom in the TFT-LCD industry is ending, Lai warned.
"When business is bad, it's even more unlikely for Taiwanese flat-panel makers to switch suppliers," he said.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
RSS