AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation’s top liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel maker, said yesterday it would launch its first series of solar panels sometime next year as it seeks to tap into the clean energy sector.
During previous economic troughs in 2001 and 2006, AU Optronics went against the grain by expanding capacity via mergers and acquisitions. This time around, however, it has chosen to diversify into a new field — the solar industry — as a source of growth.
“In addition to its efforts in TFT [Thin-Film Transistor]-LCD technology, AU Optronics is now extending into the clean energy industry, seeking ... promising green business opportunities,” company president Chen Lai-juh (陳來助) said in a company statement.
The Hsinchu-based AU Optronics would launch a trial solar panel production line at an existing LCD panel manufacturing plant in Taichung, the statement said.
The company did not provide details on financing or capacity.
After years of market analysis, AU Optronics said it had set up a special task force known as the Energy Project Office, to lead efforts at the new solar business, it said in the statement.
James Chen (陳建斌), formerly head of the company’s PC panel business unit, would lead the team, the company said. The team will have as many as 30 members, it said.
“AU Optronics made the right move, matching the growing trend of LCD panel makers diversifying into the thin film solar panel industry. It will be an easy entry for panel makers because the sectors share similar processing technologies and materials,” said Arthur Hsu (胥嘉政), a solar industry analyst at Topology Research Institute (拓墣產業研究所) based in Taipei.
“Besides, panel makers can revitalize their old or idle equipment,” Hsu said.
Solar device installations could increase by as much as 14 percent from 5.1 gigawatts this year to 5.8 gigawatts next year, Hsu said. He said he remained cautious about prospects for the solar industry next year, citing the potential impact of the economic downturn.
Making an earlier entry into the solar industry, smaller rival Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) has invested about NT$2 billion (US$61 million) in creating a new solar cell subsidiary, Chi Mei Energy Corp (奇美能源), in January.
Chi Mei Energy, headquartered in Tainan, is scheduled to complete equipment installation in the fourth quarter and to start mass production in the first quarter of 2009. The production line will make solar panels with 50 megawatt of annual capacity, according to the company's Website.
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
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
‘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
RSS