Two major units of Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), the nation’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday said they plan to spend a total of US$88 million on the group’s new ethylene plant in Louisiana.
The investment from Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台灣化學纖維) and Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠) is to fund an ongoing expansion plan for the group’s US unit, FG Inc, company filings with the Taiwan Stock Exchange said.
Delaware-based FG Inc, a fully owned subsidiary of Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), operates FG LA LLC in Louisiana, which is building an ethylene cracker.
FG LA, which has paid-in capital of US$120 million, plans to raise US$100 million to cover the construction and design costs of the Louisiana project, which is undergoing an environmental assessment.
Through a capital injection of US$66 million and US$22 million respectively, Formosa Chemicals is to take a 30 percent stake and Nan Ya is to take a 10 percent stake in FG LA, while Formosa Petrochemical would hold 57 percent.
Formosa Taffeta Co (福懋興業), the conglomerate’s arm that operates its textile business, would own the remaining 3 percent stake in FG LA with an investment of US$6.6 million, the group said.
The group would not consider raising more money in the near term, an official told a news conference yesterday, adding that the Louisiana plan is expected to pass the environmental assessment next year at the earliest.
FG LA has acquired 321.15 hectares for US$34.65 million to build the new facility, a company statement said last month.
Formosa Petrochemical chairman Chen Bao-lang (陳寶郎) said that the Louisiana plant is scheduled to begin construction in 2020 and start production in 2022, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported earlier this year.
The cracker is to be capable of producing 2.4 million tonnes of ethylene per year after the first phase of construction is completed in 2024, newspapers said.
The group is planning to build more plants in the state to produce other petrochemicals, such as propane dehydrogenation and ethylene glycol, eyeing abundant shale oil there.
Total investment in Louisiana is expected to be about US$9.4 billion, Formosa Petrochemicals said.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS