Wafer maker Green Energy applies for listing on TSE

Green Energy Technology Inc (綠能科技), the nation's biggest supplier of solar wafers, applied for listing on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday and is expected to become one of the more popular purchase items by the end of the year.

Shares of Green Energy jumped 12.18 percent to NT$428.37 (US$13) on the Emerging Stock Market (興櫃市場) yesterday.

Parent company Tatung Co (大同), the nation's leading home appliance maker, also rose by the 7 percent daily limit to NT$17.90 -- its highest point in seven years -- on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

As the most profitable subsidiary of Tatung, Green Energy posted pre-tax earnings of NT$689 million, or NT$6.76 per share, on sales of NT$2.44 billion last year. The company has paid-in capital of NT$800 million.

Green Energy supplies solar wafers to some of the nation's largest solar-cell makers, including Motech Industries Inc (茂迪), and competes with Wafer Works Corp (合晶科技) in making solar modules using the most advanced 8.5-generation facility, which it began using last month.

Joining the green energy bandwagon, Lee Chang Yung Chemical Industry Corp (李長榮化工) said on Monday it would invest US$250 million to US$300 million to manufacture polycrystalline silicon, a vital material used in manufacturing solar cells and semiconductors.

Shares of Lee Chang Yung rose by the 7 percent daily limit to close at NT$34.25 yesterday.

Strong growth has resulted in a constant shortage of polycrystalline silicon.

Mospec Semiconductor (統懋半導體) said late last month that it planned to issue NT$450 million in five-year convertible bonds to fund its expansion into solar wafer production, while Motech raised US$210.80 million selling global depositary receipts in May in order to buy raw materials, equipment and machinery for photovoltaic cell production.

Lee Chang Yung will sign a deal with a partner to set up a plant for the production of polycrystalline silicon by the end of this year, chairman Bowei Lee (李謀偉) said. Given the high energy consumption involved in production, the company could build the plant in the Middle East, where the cost of energy is lower, with mass production of polycrystalline silicon starting in two years, Lee said.