Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp (台塑河靜鋼鐵興業) is to study the feasibility of building a third furnace to expand production, the Ha Tinh, Vietnam-based firm said on Monday.
Demand for steel from the Southeast Asian market has been strong, prompting the company to mull the possibility of expansion, chairman Chen Yuan-cheng (陳源成) told reporters.
However, whether it follows through on the idea depends on its shareholders and on whether the Vietnamese government would support the plan, Chen added.
Formosa Ha Tinh Steel’s second furnace, located in the Vung Ang Economic Zone of Ha Tinh Province, started operations on May 18, while the first furnace became operational on May 29 last year.
Chen said that the first furnace rolled out about 1.6 million tonnes of molten iron last year, while the second furnace, which is operating at 95 percent, is expected to produce 5 million tonnes this year, generating US$2.5 billion in sales.
Production from the second furnace this year is expected to boost economic growth in Vietnam by 1.27 percentage points, up from 0.45 percentage points last year, according to an estimate by Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團).
The group, which is the largest shareholder in the Ha Tinh Steel venture, owns a 70 percent stake, while China Steel Corp (中鋼) holds a 25 percent stake and Japan’s JFE Steel Corp 5 percent.
The shareholders have invested more than US$10 billion in the steel mill, making it the largest foreign investment in Vietnam.
A feasibility plan would be conducted on the third furnace by next year at the earliest, given US-China trade tensions, and other factors, Chen said.
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Nvidia shares remain down more than 9 percent, but investors are hoping CEO Jensen Huang’s speech can stave off fears that the sales boom is peaking Shares in Nvidia Corp’s Taiwanese suppliers mostly closed higher yesterday on hopes that the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer would showcase next-generation technologies at its annual AI conference slated to open later in the day. The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in California is to feature developers, engineers, researchers, inventors and information technology professionals, and would focus on AI, computer graphics, data science, machine learning and autonomous machines. The event comes at a make-or-break moment for the firm, as it heads into the next few quarters, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech today seen as having the ability to
NEXT GENERATION: The company also showcased automated machines, including a nursing robot called Nurabot, which is to enter service at a Taichung hospital this year Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) expects server revenue to exceed its iPhone revenue within two years, with the possibility of achieving this goal as early as this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said on Tuesday at Nvidia Corp’s annual technology conference in San Jose, California. AI would be the primary focus this year for the company, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), as rapidly advancing AI applications are driving up demand for AI servers, Liu said. The production and shipment of Nvidia’s GB200 chips and the anticipated launch of GB300 chips in the second half of the year would propel
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday signed a letter of intent with Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), expressing an interest to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) and invest in the latter’s Alaska LNG project, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. Under the agreement, CPC is to participate in the project’s upstream gas investment to secure stable energy resources for Taiwan, the ministry said. The Alaska LNG project is jointly promoted by AGDC and major developer Glenfarne Group LLC, as Alaska plans to export up to 20 million tonnes of LNG annually from 2031. It involves constructing an 1,290km
RSS