The production capacity of the global solar cell industry has increased rapidly since 2000, and total annual output is estimated to reach 2.82 gigawatts in 2010 with a value of US$4.23 billion, according to a report released by the government-funded Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI,
An ITRI official said that as the demand for solar energy has continued to grow at a more rapid pace, the industry registered a compound annual growth rate of 37.5 percent during the 2000 to 2003 period, with the figure hitting 60.5 percent for the 2003 to 2004 period.
He added that global annual production of photovoltaic cells reached 1.727 gigawatts last year, marking growth of 45 percent.
The official said that compared with the ITRI's relatively mild estimate, global solar cell manufacturers have a more optimistic forecast of 4.8-gigawatt production output by 2008.
Due to skyrocketing oil prices, the need for clean and renewable solar energy will only become stronger in the coming years, the official said.
Currently, the top 10 solar cell makers are: Sharp -- with 428 megawatts of output, Q-Cells (160 megawatts), Kyocera Solar (125 megawatts), Sanyo Electric (125 megawatts), Mitsubishi Electric (100 megawatts), Schott Solar (95 megawatts), BP Solar International (90 megawatts), Suntech Power (80 megawatts), Motech Industries (
Most of the top 10 are Japanese makers.
Motech is the only one based in Taiwan.
Taiwanese firms have increased investment in the Philippines in recent years as Manila’s ties with Washington deepen and global supply chains continue to shift away from China, an expert at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The Philippines had not been among Taiwanese investors’ top choices in Southeast Asia, CIER Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center director Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈) said at a seminar in Taipei. However, Taiwan’s investment in the country has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching US $257 million last year, a high in recent years, she said. Although Taiwan’s total investment in the Philippines still lags
HSBC Holdings PLC is deepening its commitment to Taiwan as the economy emerges as one of the bank’s fastest-growing markets globally, driven by an artificial intelligence (AI) investment boom, expanding cross-border trade, and rising wealth creation. “The advantage that Taiwan has is a growth story linked to the semiconductor and broader AI industries, strong underlying corporate performance, and wealth creation,” said Surendra Rosha, HSBC’s co-chief executive for Asia and the Middle East, in an exclusive interview with the Taipei Times on June 2, during this year’s HSBC Taiwan Conference. That combination has helped HSBC cement its position as the most profitable international
Intel Corp regards Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) as a longstanding partner, as the US chipmaker would continue outsourcing production of advanced chips to TSMC, Intel chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) said yesterday. “I don’t look at people as competitors. I look at the collaboration... Nvidia is also, you know, a good friend,” Tan told a news conference following his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei. “It’s a very trusted partnership for us... We are a big, top customer for them, and we’re going to continue doing that,” he said, referring to TSMC, the world’s largest foundry
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said it would work with US chipmaker Intel Corp to jointly develop and deploy next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and intelligent computing platforms in a move to capture booming demand for AI computing systems. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康), said in a statement that the partnership would combine its global manufacturing scale, system integration expertise and AI data center deployment capabilities with Intel’s strengths in processor architecture, silicon technologies and software ecosystem. The companies said they plan to work on equipment used in AI data centers, including server racks powered by
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