Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) officially opened its US$600 million eastern Chinese headquarters in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, yesterday as part of the company’s efforts to branch out into the green energy business.
The regional headquarters, located in the Wujin High-tech Development Zone (武進高新技術區), will help Lite-On Technology integrate its supply chain resources in Eastern China while improving its operational efficiencies, the Neihu-based company said in an e-mailed statement.
Lite-On Technology also hopes the new regional headquarters will help it expand into the green energy industry, leveraging its position in the global information and communication technology industries, the statement said.
Yesterday’s announcement came after Lite-On Technology said last week it was considering acquiring silicon wafer makers to develop its solar cell business, while its solar subsidiary, Lite-On Green Technologies Inc (光寶綠色能資), sealed a deal to install 2-megawatt roof-based photovoltaic systems in Belgium for the IKEA Group, the world’s biggest home-furnishings retailer.
The company, which posted a 0.4 percent decline year-on-year in net profit to NT$2 billion (US$62 million) in the first half of the year amid the economic slump, counts on electronic devices and optoelectronic components as its major revenue generators. These include switching power supply products, light-emitting-diode (LED) backlighting for notebooks and PC monitors, as well as handset casing and keyboard products.
The company claims its power supplies and LED products could save 2.88 billion kilowatt hours (kwh) and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2.74 million tonnes per year, which is the equivalent of preventing 152,431 hectares of deforestation. These benefits are the result of energy-saving designs in the company’s plants and manufacturing processes, it said.
With its increased business focus on solar energy, Lite-On Technology has now jumped onto the green energy bandwagon, along with other local industry heavyweights like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) and AU Optronics Corp (友達光電).
At its new facilities in the Wujin High-tech Development Zone, Lite-On Technology will initially focus on the manufacturing of power supply products, before extending to the production of keyboard, PC peripherals and LED products in the future, the statement said. The company currently has 14 production lines running there and the figure is projected to increase to 40 lines by the end of the year, it said.
Shares of Lite-On Technology have surged 89.04 percent so far this year, outperforming a rise of 70.2 percent on the main bourse’s electronics sub-index and an increase of 59.98 percent on the TAIEX.
The stock ended at NT$40.55 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Friday.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would not produce its most advanced technologies in the US next year, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the comment during an appearance at the legislature, hours after the chipmaker announced that it would invest an additional US$100 billion to expand its manufacturing operations in the US. Asked by Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) if TSMC would allow its most advanced technologies, the yet-to-be-released 2-nanometer and 1.6-nanometer processes, to go to the US in the near term, Kuo denied it. TSMC recently opened its first US factory, which produces 4-nanometer
PROTECTION: The investigation, which takes aim at exporters such as Canada, Germany and Brazil, came days after Trump unveiled tariff hikes on steel and aluminum products US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered a probe into potential tariffs on lumber imports — a move threatening to stoke trade tensions — while also pushing for a domestic supply boost. Trump signed an executive order instructing US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to begin an investigation “to determine the effects on the national security of imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products.” The study might result in new tariffs being imposed, which would pile on top of existing levies. The investigation takes aim at exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil, with White House officials earlier accusing these economies of
Teleperformance SE, the largest call-center operator in the world, is rolling out an artificial intelligence (AI) system that softens English-speaking Indian workers’ accents in real time in a move the company claims would make them more understandable. The technology, called accent translation, coupled with background noise cancelation, is being deployed in call centers in India, where workers provide customer support to some of Teleperformance’s international clients. The company provides outsourced customer support and content moderation to global companies including Apple Inc, ByteDance Ltd’s (字節跳動) TikTok and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. “When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it’s hard
PROBE CONTINUES: Those accused falsely represented that the chips would not be transferred to a person other than the authorized end users, court papers said Singapore charged three men with fraud in a case local media have linked to the movement of Nvidia’s advanced chips from the city-state to Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firm DeepSeek (深度求索). The US is investigating if DeepSeek, the Chinese company whose AI model’s performance rocked the tech world in January, has been using US chips that are not allowed to be shipped to China, Reuters reported earlier. The Singapore case is part of a broader police investigation of 22 individuals and companies suspected of false representation, amid concerns that organized AI chip smuggling to China has been tracked out of nations such
RSS