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.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS