Quanta Computer Inc (
"The complexity of the joint venture is greater than we expected," Quanta said in a statement released yesterday.
The two companies differ in their global positioning in the flat-panel television business and in issues such as organizational restructuring and these differences have prompted the postponement to next year, according to the statement.
In March, Quanta announced plans to join forces with Sanyo to establish a flat-panel TV venture in the third quarter, which would require initial capital of US$65 million. Shareholding details were not disclosed at the time.
The move reflected Quanta's attempt to cash in on the booming flat TV industry, which is set to expand rapidly over the next five years, Michael Wang (王震華), Quanta's chief operating officer, said on March 17.
The delay of the proposed venture was also apparently caused by weaker than anticipated market demand.
"Demand in Europe was weaker than expectated during the second quarter. But, at the moment, we will keep our forecast for global LCD TV sales at 42 million sets unchanged," said David Hsieh (謝勤益), a director of market researcher DisplaySearch's Taiwanese branch.
Recently, demand in the European and Chinese markets has started picking up, which would help shift inventory piled up during the last quarter and stabilize TV panel prices at US$350 per unit, Hsieh said.
Besides, second-tier TV vendors in North America planned to cut the prices of 32-inch and 37-inch TV sets to US$699 and US$999 to spur demand in the final quarter, Hsieh said.
Despite these market uncertainties, Quanta said its venture plans with Sanyo will be realized next year.
"Discussions are currently underway and we are working toward the goal of establishing the venture next year," Quanta's acting spokesperson Carol Hsu (許昭瑾) told the Taipei Times in a phone interview yesterday.
But for now, Sanyo will spin off development and purchasing operations of its TV business to put together a new company, tentatively called Sanyo Visual Technology Inc, in October.
Quanta will pump in ?85.5 million (US$740,000) for a 19 percent stake in the new company, which is to be based in North America.
Quanta will also offer its development resources to Sanyo Visual Technology and both will work on the purchase of materials and components, in order not to miss out on the year-end holiday shopping spree, Hsu said.
Quanta's shares closed down NT$0.4 percent at NT$46.4 yesterday on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Shares of Sanyo rose 2.7 percent to ?26 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The announcement was made after markets closed in both Taipei and Tokyo.
"The postponement reveals that both firms are not yet fully ready to co-operate in the flat-panel TV industry. The October alliance will instead require less resources compared to the proposed venture," said David Chen (陳賜賢), an analyst with Taipei-based Market Intelligence Center (資訊市場情報中心).
The delay will not cause a stir in the market, considering the two firms are not major players in the flat-panel TV industry, he said.
As the venture will carry out both brand and contract production, this will limit the scope for expansion as there will be conflicts among contract clients, Chen added.
Quanta said it shipped 350,000 flat panel televisions last year, translating to a mere 2 percent of its overall revenues. It expected the new venture to double the quantity of shipments.
Another analyst said the delay would have little effect on Quanta.
"The deferral will have a very minimal impact on Quanta as the planned joint venture is not as important as it was earlier in the year," said Daniel Wang (
At the time, Quanta had hoped to sell TV panels made by its then LCD panel manufacturing affiliate Quanta Display Inc (
There was no need for this now as the computer maker had already sold the display unit to the nation's top panel maker AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) in June, Wang said.
"Quanta now counts on making laptops for generating profits, not assembling LCD TVs," he reasoned.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI