Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it was purchasing a 21 percent stake in a US-based solar photovoltaic company as part of its efforts to move into the green energy business.
TSMC, the world’s top contract chipmaker, said in a statement that it had reached a series of agreements with Stion Corp on technology licensing, supply and joint development of thin-film solar photovoltaic modules technology.
The Hsinchu-based chipmaker would also acquire about one-fifth of the shares of the California-based Stion through its venture capital affiliate, VentureTech Alliance LLC, for US$50 million, TSMC said in the statement.
TSMC’s latest move into the green energy business follows a Dec. 9 announcement that it had bought 75.32 million shares of Motech Industries Inc (茂迪), or about 20 percent, of the nation’s biggest solar cell maker, for NT$6.23 billion (US$192.6 million).
Besides solar power, TSMC has also been moving into LED lighting. During a groundbreaking ceremony at the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) on March 25, the company pledged to invest an initial NT$5.5 billion in a LED lighting research and development center and fab, aiming to start supplying LED light sources and light engines next year, Rick Tsai (蔡力行), TSMC’s president of New Businesses division, said at the time.
TSMC had also bought a 3 percent stake in a US LED chip maker, BridgeLux Inc, in April 2008.
Under yesterday’s agreements with Stion, TSMC said it would obtain copper indium gallium sulfur selenide (CIGSS) based thin-film solar module technology from the US company, while it would in turn offer its partner a certain quantity of solar modules using the technology.
“Working with Stion, TSMC gains a robust thin film technology with inherent low cost structure,” Tsai said in the statement, adding that the company aims to achieve long-term leadership in solar photovoltaic businesses while contributing to a greener economy.
Stion CEO and president Chet Farris said he viewed the new partnership with TSMC as a good example of a “win-win relationship” in the solar energy business.
“The collaboration enables Stion to scale its operations, leverages both companies’ strengths to achieve market leadership and to deliver on the promise of efficient, affordable solar energy,” Farris said in the statement.
The two companies also said in the statement that they would work together to enhance thin-film technology through joint development, but did not disclose details.
Shares of TSMC closed at NT$61.4 on Tuesday, up 0.49 percent from the previous session. The local market was closed yesterday for Dragon Boat Festival.
So far this year, TSMC has dropped 4.81 percent on the main bourse, compared with the benchmark TAIEX’s 8.96 percent decline, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group