AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), the nation’s second-biggest LCD panel maker, yesterday said its solar modules were added to the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) list of solar-eligible equipment, which would allow the company to tap the US market.
That is one more step by the firm to make its solar business a new pillar of growth in the future as its core LCD business continues to ebb.
The company entered the UK market in December after completing the UK’s Microgeneration Certification Scheme.
Earning the CEC qualification means that the company would also be able to sell its solar modules in other US states that have adopted the standard, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the company said in a statement yesterday.
“Due to the renewable energy policy of the US federal government, the American solar industry hit record growth in 2010, making the country a promising solar market. AUO is also optimistic about this market potential,” the company said in the statement.
Solar installation projects in the US exceeded 12 gigawatts as of this month, indicating that the US would be among the fastest-growing markets in the world during the next two years, market researcher Solarbuzz said in a report dated April 7.
Solarbuzz expected the installation to double this year from last year, according to the report.
In addition to solar modules, the firm also produces key raw materials, polysilicon and solar wafers via its subsidiaries.
Last week, the company held a ceremony for a new solar wafer plant with mass production slated to begin in the first quarter of next year, which is also when the plant is expected to start operations.
AUO Crystal Corp (ACC, 友達晶材), will establish the plant at the Central Taiwan Science Park’s (中部科學園區) Houli base and it will have a first-phase combined manufacturing capacity of monocrystalline ingots and monocrystalline wafers that is expected to amount to about 250 megawatts per year.
Shares of the company declined 1.8 percent to NT$24.6 yesterday, under-performing the benchmark TAIEX, which inched lower 0.04 percent.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy