Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (
The center will focus on nanotechnology and precision-optical machinery.
"We hope the establishment of the new R&D center will expedite our R&D process and, therefore, enhance our competitiveness," Hon Hai's founder and chairman Terry Gou (
Hon Hai, which might replace Singapore's Flextronics International Ltd to become the world's largest EMS provider, plans to expand its R&D manpower to a maximum of 3,000 people and pour NT$12 billion into the center for the next three years.
The company has lodged up to 17,000 applications for patents and has patented around 12,000 inventions so far, Gou said.
The center is expected to facilitate the company's transformation into "high-tech Hon Hai" from merely "manufacturer Hon Hai" by attracting overseas researchers and cooperating with foreign R&D centers, Gou said.
The project has three stages. Hon Hai plans to complete the first-stage of construction by next July and recruit 1,000 R&D specialists at the same time.
The company posted consolidated revenue of NT$327.79 billion last year, up from NT$245.09 billion in 2002. It has generated sales of NT$166.05 billion for the first half of this year, around 37.74 percent of the forecasted NT$440 billion worth of revenue for this year.
"The company often sets aside 10 percent to 15 percent of its annual revenue for the R&D work," said Chen Ga-lane (
Strong R&D capability would back up the company's plan to expand its layouts of computer, communication, consumer electronics (3Cs) into 6Cs domains (3Cs plus cars, channels and [digital] contents), he said.
According to Chen, R&D work in the new center will begin in two years on nanotech stampers, nanotech optics and nanotech heat conductivity, in collaboration with the National Nano Devices Laboratories under the National Science Commission and Tsinghua University in Beijing.
These technologies could be applied in the manufacture of component parts such as nanotech batteries for notebooks or hand-sets, which have double the energy capacity of current batteries, and printer-reader heads for better printing quality, he said.
Hon Hai has set up several R&D centers, including one in Tokyo for precision machinery, Beijing for academic nanotech research, San Jose, California, for e-papers and Finland for wireless technology.
The company's Beijing center is focusing on developing nanotechnology for electronic circuits and devices from single atoms and molecules, but will turn its focus toward miniature batteries and heat-dissipation products within three years, according to a report in a Chinese-language newspaper yesterday.
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
Catastrophic computer outages caused by a software update from one company have once again exposed the dangers of global technological dependence on a handful of players, experts said on Friday. A flawed update sent out by the little-known security firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc brought airlines, TV stations and myriad other aspects of daily life to a standstill. The outages affected companies or individuals that use CrowdStrike on the Microsoft Inc’s Windows platform. When they applied the update, the incompatible software crashed computers into a frozen state known as the “blue screen of death.” “Today CrowdStrike has become a household name, but not in