Wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA said in a statement yesterday that the expansion of its nacelle assembly plant in Taichung would be completed a month ahead of schedule and begin operations in the second quarter next year.
The plant is the company’s first assembly facility for nacelles for offshore wind units outside of Europe and Taiwan’s only one, it said.
Following completion of the work, the plant at the Port of Taichung would have annual production capacity of 2 gigawatts, creating more job opportunities, Siemens Gamesa said.
Photo courtesy of Siemens Gemesa Renewable Energy SA
The company is recruiting 300 people to meet rising demand for talent in the industry.
It sent its first batch of Taiwanese employees to a one-year advanced training course in Europe late last year, it added.
Siemens Gamesa started the expansion of the plant in September last year and had expected to complete construction in February.
However, it now expects the construction of two production halls, one warehouse and other ancillary facilities to be completed early next month, it said.
After the installation of manufacturing equipment, the new facilities would produce large offshore wind turbines and continue the firm’s collaboration with the local industry chain, it added.
Besides supporting the 1,044 megawatt Hai Long Offshore Wind Power Project (海龍離岸風電計畫) off Changhua County, the new facilities would help complete a third-phase offshore wind farm development plan drawn up by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the company said.
The company is looking forward to joining hands with the local supply chain to export Taiwan-made nacelles to projects in the Asia-Pacific region with the completion of the expansion project, Siemens Gamesa said.
“The expansion of the Taichung nacelle plant will further fulfill our commitment to the development of offshore wind power in Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific region,” Siemens Gamesa Offshore for Asia-Pacific chairman and managing director Niels Steenberg said in the statement.
Taiwan has 283 offshore wind turbines, of which Siemens Gamesa contributed 210, more than 75 percent, ministry data showed.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday obtained the government’s approval to inject an additional US$7.5 billion into its US subsidiary, the Department of Investment Review said in a statement. The department approved TSMC’s application of investing in TSMC Arizona Corp, which is engaged in the manufacturing, sales, testing and design of IC and other semiconductor devices, it said. The latest capital injection follows a US$5 billion investment for TSMC Arizona approved in June. The chipmaker has broken ground on two advanced fabs in Arizona with aggregated investments approved by the department totaling US$24 billion thus far. According to TSMC, the first Arizona
The lethal hack of Hezbollah’s Asian-branded pagers and walkie-talkies has sparked an intense search for the devices’ path, revealing a murky market for older technologies where buyers might have few assurances about what they are getting. While supply chains and distribution channels for higher-margin and newer products are tightly managed, that is not the case for older electronics from Asia where counterfeiting, surplus inventories and complex contract manufacturing deals can sometimes make it impossible to identify the source of a product, analysts and consultants say. The response from the companies at the center of the booby-trapped gadgets that killed 37
FRIENDLY TAKEOVER: While Qualcomm Inc’s proposal to buy some or all of Intel raises the prospect of other competitors, Broadcom Inc is staying on the sidelines Qualcomm Inc has approached Intel Corp to discuss a potential acquisition of the struggling chipmaker, people with knowledge of the matter said, raising the prospect of one of the biggest-ever merger and acquisition deals. California-based Qualcomm proposed a friendly takeover for Intel in recent days, said the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. The proposal is for all of the chipmaker, although Qualcomm has not ruled out buying some parts of Intel and selling off others. It is uncertain whether the initial approach would lead to an agreement and any deal is likely to come under close antitrust scrutiny
SECURITY CONCERNS: The proposed ban on Chinese autonomous vehicle software and hardware would go into effect with the 2027 and 2030 model years respectively The US Department of Commerce today is expected to propose prohibiting Chinese software and hardware in connected and autonomous vehicles on US roads due to national security concerns, two sources said. US President Joe Biden’s administration has raised concerns about the collection of data by Chinese companies on US drivers and infrastructure as well as the potential foreign manipulation of vehicles connected to the Internet and navigation systems. The proposed regulation would ban the import and sale of vehicles from China with key communications or automated driving system software or hardware, said the two sources, who declined to be identified because the