Eyeing the lucrative handheld electronics market, US chipmaker Qualcomm Inc is investing nearly US$1 billion in a Mirasol display plant in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The factory will occupy seven hectares, and be located in Longtan (龍潭), the site of the Hsinchu Science Park.
This investment follows Qualcomm’s joint venture with local electronics component maker Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co (正崴) in 2008 to set up Sollink Inc (高強光電), which makes handset displays using Qualcomm’s Mirasol technology.
Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs said in September that the company expects “significant growth” out of Mirasol displays.
The new plant will produce smaller displays using power--efficient Mirosal technology for handheld devices such as electronic readers.
Those displays, mostly smaller than 5.7 inches, consume less power than LCD panels of a similar size and active matrix organic light emitting displays (AMOLED).
Jacobs said the potential overall market for displays similar to Qualcomm’s Mirasol screens would be worth about US$11 billion in annual sales. He said in September that Qualcomm plans to sharply cut the price of its Mirasol technology to develop a bigger market.
Last August, Northern Taiwan Science Park Administration -director-general Randy Yen (顏宗明) said Qualcomm was going to invest NT$63 billion (US$2.2 billion) in a Mirosal plant by leasing a 5.1-hectare plot from the government.
The so-called fifth-generation plant, which contractors began to build late last year, will process a maximum of 50,000 sheets of the raw materials used to make the displays per month, Yen said.
The ministry yesterday said Qualcomm had evaluated other possible sites, including China, South Korea, Japan and Singapore, but decided to invest in Taiwan because of the massive pool of -technology talent here.
“Qualcomm has established a rapport with Taiwanese information, communications and technology firms, and it is aggressively involved in the development of Mirasol displays in view of the rise of smart handhelds such as e--readers,” the statement said.
The ministry said the new plant would bolster local employment opportunities and enhance Taiwan’s competitiveness in the display manufacturing industry.Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子) and AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the world’s third and fourth-largest LCD makers, are also based in Taiwan.
Major Taiwanese technology firms, including Acer Inc (宏碁), Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), BenQ Corp (明基) and Delta Electronics Inc (台達電), have introduced e-readers that allow users to read books and magazines downloaded from the Internet.
Qualcomm established a presence in Taiwan in 2003 by opening an office in Taipei and another in Hsinchu.
The Taipei office is the regional marketing and sales center for Qualcomm’s CDMA Technologies division, while the Hsinchu office supports Qualcomm’s MEMS Technologies division and leads the transfer of its display technology to manufacturing partners throughout Asia, according to its Web site.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
RSS