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.
Sweeping policy changes under US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr are having a chilling effect on vaccine makers as anti-vaccine rhetoric has turned into concrete changes in inoculation schedules and recommendations, investors and executives said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has in the past year upended vaccine recommendations, with the country last month ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive inoculations against flu, hepatitis A and other diseases. The unprecedented changes have led to diminished vaccine usage, hurt the investment case for some biotechs, and created a drag that would likely dent revenues and
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.
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