Motech Industries Inc (茂迪), the nation’s biggest solar cell maker, yesterday said it planned to shut down factories at its money-losing US polysilicon manufacturing unit and sell the assets as falling solar cell prices drive the company into a deep financial abyss.
“Drastic changes in the solar industry has made it difficult for polysilicon producer AE Polysilicon Corp to reach economies of scale and has weakened its price competitiveness,” the solar cell maker said in a statement submitted to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The price of polysilicon, a raw material used to make solar wafers, dropped to about US$22 per kilogram, according to a survey released last week by market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技). That was a dramatic decline from a peak of US$500 per kilogram in 2008.
Motech said AE Polysilicon, of which the Taiwanese company owns a 30 percent share, is laying off employees. As of April 30, Motech had invested US$26 million in AE Polysilicon since 2006 and has prepaid US$15 million for future purchases of polysilicon, company spokesman Jack Hsieh (謝祖葳) said in the statement.
Last year, Motech booked NT$370 million (US$12.48 million) in non-operating losses, primarily from AE Polysilicon, according to the company’s stock exchange filing. Motech lost NT$2.49 billion last year.
Motech posted smaller losses for the first quarter, at NT$981 million, on the back of improved factory utilization, compared with a loss of NT$1.94 billion in the final quarter of last year and a net profit of NT$686 million in the same period last year.
Motech shares dropped 0.72 percent to NT$47.95 yesterday, while local rival E-Ton solar Tech Co Ltd (益通) rallied 4.03 percent to NT$15.5.
Sweeping policy changes under US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr are having a chilling effect on vaccine makers as anti-vaccine rhetoric has turned into concrete changes in inoculation schedules and recommendations, investors and executives said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has in the past year upended vaccine recommendations, with the country last month ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive inoculations against flu, hepatitis A and other diseases. The unprecedented changes have led to diminished vaccine usage, hurt the investment case for some biotechs, and created a drag that would likely dent revenues and
Global semiconductor stocks advanced yesterday, as comments by Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) at Davos, Switzerland, helped reinforce investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence (AI). Samsung Electronics Co gained as much as 5 percent to an all-time high, helping drive South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI above 5,000 for the first time. That came after the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose more than 3 percent to a fresh record on Wednesday, with a boost from Nvidia. The gains came amid broad risk-on trade after US President Donald Trump withdrew his threat of tariffs on some European nations over backing for Greenland. Huang further
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HSBC Bank Taiwan Ltd (匯豐台灣商銀) and the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enhance cooperation on the suspicious transaction analysis mechanism. This landmark agreement makes HSBC the first foreign bank in Taiwan to establish such a partnership with the High Prosecutors Office, underscoring its commitment to active anti-fraud initiatives, financial inclusion, and the “Treating Customers Fairly” principle. Through this deep public-private collaboration, both parties aim to co-create a secure financial ecosystem via early warning detection and precise fraud prevention technologies. At the signing ceremony, HSBC Taiwan CEO and head of banking Adam Chen (陳志堅)
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