Taiwan and Australia yesterday discussed opportunities for bilateral cooperation on clean energy, including on the development of hydrogen-based technologies, and agreed to expand their trade and investment efforts in such fields.
The talks, held as part of the bilateral Hydrogen Trade and Investment Dialogue, also included strategies for increasing renewable energy, said the Australian Office in Taipei, which hosted the videoconference.
In the past few years, cooperation between Taiwan and Australia has expanded to offshore wind energy, and Taiwan plans to make a greater push for partnerships with other nations on the application and development of hydrogen energy, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) told the forum.
Photo courtesy of the Australian Office Taipei
Describing Taiwan and Australia as “important partners in energy,” Wang said that 27 percent of Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas and 70 percent of its coal comes from Australia.
The partnership does not end with traditional energy resources, Wang said.
“Taiwan’s first offshore wind farm was built in collaboration with Australia’s Macquarie Group,” she said. “We hope to keep working together as Taiwan increases its renewable energy efforts.”
Australia is an important exporter of energy, minerals and agricultural products to Taiwan, while Taiwan exports high-tech products to Australia.
Over the past five years, trade has grown at an average of 10 percent per year, while bilateral investment has grown at an average of 13 percent per year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said.
Australia is Taiwan’s largest source for energy-related products, and Taiwan is Australia’s fourth-largest market for energy.
However, as the countries try to decarbonize, the talks also centered around trade and investment cooperation, including in wind and solar power, and in “emerging low-emission technologies such as hydrogen,” the Australian Office said in a statement.
The Australian delegation at the forum was led by Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan and Special Adviser on Low Emissions Technology Alan Finkel, who gave the keynote address at the event on the challenges and opportunities of hydrogen.
“Australia and Taiwan are natural energy partners and are in a strong position to maximize these opportunities, as the world moves toward a net-zero emissions future,” the office said.
The dialogue is a continuation of the Joint Energy and Minerals, Trade and Investment Cooperation consultations, with the common goal of fostering a multilevel relationship between Taiwan and Australia in energy, the ministry said.
EXPECTATIONS: The firm, which is on track to outpace global foundry industry revenue growth, said it expects constrained advanced process capacity amid stronger AI demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday increased its projected revenue growth for this year to above 25 percent, as stronger-than-expected demand for premium smartphones and artificial intelligence (AI) devices are to drive greater utilization of cutting-edge 3-nanometer and 5-nanometer chips. In April TSMC estimated 21 to 24 percent annual growth. The firm’s revenue growth is on track to greatly outpace the global foundry industry, which is expected to rise about 10 percent this year. “Over the past three months, we have observed stronger AI and high-end smartphone demand from our customers, which is to boost the overall capacity utilization for our leading-edge
INVESTMENT: The company’s planned complex in Texas would be the first 12-inch silicon wafer fab built in the US in more than 20 years, a GlobalWafers official said GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said it secured up to US$400 million in direct funding from the US Department of Commerce under the CHIPS and Science Act for the construction of two new advanced fabs in the US. Its subsidiaries GlobalWafers America and MEMC LLC are to build a 12-inch silicon wafer fab in Sherman, Texas, and another one in Missouri to produce silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers used to make leading-edge chips. “With the support of the [US President Joe] Biden Administration, we are honored to be bringing to American shores the world’s most cutting-edge 12-inch semiconductor
Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (力積電) yesterday said that net losses ballooned to NT$1.96 billion (US$60.1 million) in the second quarter, as heavy manufacturing costs from a new fab outweighed the improvement in customer demand and factory utilization. That compared with losses of NT$439 million in the first quarter. The company posted a net profit of NT$617 million a year earlier. Gross margin plummeted to 5.3 percent last quarter, from 15.4 percent in the previous quarter and 16.8 percent in the same period last year. It was the weakest since the fourth quarter of last year. The chipmaker blamed heavy depreciation and higher manufacturing
Nikon Corp is fielding strong demand for its legacy chipmaking machines in China, which is mobilizing resources to build its own semiconductor supply chain. Inquiries for the Japanese precision maker’s lithography tools have surged in China, Nikon president Muneaki Tokunari said. The company is set to revamp a lithography machine geared for decades-old manufacturing processes. Its NSR-2205iL1, launching this summer, would serve the market for mature chip technology and Nikon expects to sell more than 10 units of the machine annually, said Tokunari, who is also chief operating officer and chief financial officer. New companies are sprouting up in China to make