Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶), the world’s second-largest contract manufacturer of laptop PCs, yesterday announced that it was purchasing Toshiba Corp’s LCD TV manufacturing plant in Mexico as part of its efforts to boost LCD TV production.
The Taiwanese maker said in a statement that it has entered into a contract to acquire Toshiba Electromex SA de CV, which is located in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
The statement did not disclose investment figures except to say the deal was expected to be completed by September, pending regulatory approval.
The deal is expected to help Compal secure stable orders from Toshiba, which is one of Compal’s major TV customers.
Brand customers will sometimes sell their production facilities to contract manufacturers as a means to save costs and outsource future orders.
Through the purchase, contract manufacturers hope to ensure stable orders from these clients and at the same time expand production facilities.
For instance, Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團) spent NT$100 million (US$3 million) in 2005 to acquire assets of two of Hewlett-Packard Co’s manufacturing facilities, one each in Australia and India.
In 2008, Hon Hai invested US$18 million to buy a cellphone manufacturing plant in Mexico from Motorola Inc.
“By acquiring Toshiba Electromex, Compal looks forward to expanding LCD TV manufacturing flexibility, diversified sales mix, and revenue growth momentum in the future,” the statement said.
Compal president Ray Chen (陳瑞聰) said at the Computex technology trade fair in Taipei early last month that the company was setting its sights on “four screens” to fuel future growth momentum.
These four screens are notebooks, tablet PCs, TVs and smartphones.
The company expects to produce 8 million LCD TVs this year, up from last year’s 5.4 million, he said.
Shares of Compal closed down 1.5 percent to NT$33.5 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
EXPANSION: The 3-hectare site would include small clean rooms and laboratories as well as a world-class training base for advanced packaging talent, the company said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is to establish a presence in the Baipu Industrial Park (白埔產業園區) in Kaohsiung to accelerate the testing and validation of semiconductor materials and equipment, a company executive said on Tuesday. The company is working with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Kaohsiung City Government on the plan, which is expected to improve validation efficiency by 25 to 50 percent, TSMC vice president of advanced packaging technology and service Jun He (何軍) said at a 3D IC global summit held ahead of the Semicon Taiwan trade show, which opened in Taipei yesterday. TSMC would also conduct
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is accelerating capacity expansion fivefold this year, but it is still unable to keep up with the booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI), TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said yesterday. This year alone, the company is building 25 chip manufacturing fabs and advanced packaging facilities worldwide, including 13 plants in Taiwan, which is unprecedented, Hou said at a CEO Summit fireside chat at Semicon Taiwan in Taipei. In the past, the company was able to build five or six factories a year, said Hou, who is also chairman of the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry
Visitors look at a 64-qubit superconducting quantum computer on display at the Fujitsu booth at the Semicon Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday.
Silicon photonics would play a dominant role next year and make chip-level co-packaged optics (CPO) packaging possible, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said yesterday. “For years, critics questioned the reliability of CPO. The doubts are being thoroughly dismantled by real-world data and market validation,” TSMC vice president of advanced packaging technology development K.C. Hsu (徐國晉) said at a SEMI forum in Taipei. The company is on track to enter production of CPO later this year, Hsu said in another forum arranged by Imec in Taipei yesterday, about four months after TSMC announced its progress in CPO development in May.
RSS