Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶), the world’s second-largest contract manufacturer of laptop PCs, yesterday announced that it was purchasing Toshiba Corp’s LCD TV manufacturing plant in Mexico as part of its efforts to boost LCD TV production.
The Taiwanese maker said in a statement that it has entered into a contract to acquire Toshiba Electromex SA de CV, which is located in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
The statement did not disclose investment figures except to say the deal was expected to be completed by September, pending regulatory approval.
The deal is expected to help Compal secure stable orders from Toshiba, which is one of Compal’s major TV customers.
Brand customers will sometimes sell their production facilities to contract manufacturers as a means to save costs and outsource future orders.
Through the purchase, contract manufacturers hope to ensure stable orders from these clients and at the same time expand production facilities.
For instance, Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團) spent NT$100 million (US$3 million) in 2005 to acquire assets of two of Hewlett-Packard Co’s manufacturing facilities, one each in Australia and India.
In 2008, Hon Hai invested US$18 million to buy a cellphone manufacturing plant in Mexico from Motorola Inc.
“By acquiring Toshiba Electromex, Compal looks forward to expanding LCD TV manufacturing flexibility, diversified sales mix, and revenue growth momentum in the future,” the statement said.
Compal president Ray Chen (陳瑞聰) said at the Computex technology trade fair in Taipei early last month that the company was setting its sights on “four screens” to fuel future growth momentum.
These four screens are notebooks, tablet PCs, TVs and smartphones.
The company expects to produce 8 million LCD TVs this year, up from last year’s 5.4 million, he said.
Shares of Compal closed down 1.5 percent to NT$33.5 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
CHIP BOOM: Revenue for the semiconductor industry is set to reach US$1 trillion by 2032, opening up opportunities for the chip pacakging and testing company, it said ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest provider of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services, yesterday launched a new advanced manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, aiming to meet growing demand for emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The US$300 million facility is a critical step in expanding ASE’s global footprint, offering an alternative for customers from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China to assemble and test chips outside of Taiwan amid efforts to diversify supply chains. The plant, the company’s fifth in Malaysia, is part of a strategic expansion plan that would more than triple
RSS