AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), the nation’s biggest liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel maker, yesterday said it had signed an agreement with two Japanese companies to buy assets related to high-end LCD manufacturing technologies for ¥1.2 billion (US$13.2 million) and to explore business opportunities in innovative technologies.
Based on the agreement with Field Emission Technologies Inc (FET) and FET Japan Inc, AU Optronics would obtain assets including patents, know-how, inventions and relevant equipment related to field-emission-display (FED) technologies, the Hsinchu-based company said in a statement.
Sony Corp holds a controlling 39.8 percent of FET.
“FED technology will be an appropriate fit, especially for the high-end market, such as medical or broadcast displays,” AU Optronics chief executive Chen Lai-juh (陳來助) said in the statement.
FED technology would be a new application option in the flat panel industry, the company statement added.
AU Optronics said it intends to cooperate with FET and utilize the Japanese company’s resources to commercialize products that use FED technology.
FEDs are self-light-emitting and have considerable contrast and low power consumption, with no motion blur and deeper color depth, the company said.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new