The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) yesterday signed a NT$100 million (US$3.28 million) technology licensing agreement with Taiwan Mitsui Chemicals Inc (亞太三井化學) to produce safer lithium-ion batteries.
Taiwan Mitsui Chemicals Inc is a fully owned subsidiary of chemicals producer Mitsui Chemicals Inc.
Japan-based Mitsui Chemicals plans to build a production site in Taiwan by the end of 2016 to manufacture materials for lithium-ion batteries using the institute’s self-terminated oligomers with hyper-branched architecture (STOBA) technology to prevent explosions, Mitsui Chemicals managing executive officer Shigeru Isayama told a news conference.
Photo: Hung Yu-fang, Taipei Times
“We will establish close relationships with Taiwanese companies related to lithium-ion batteries,” he said.
Isayama said the company is further studying the market for lithium-ion batteries worldwide, and may build more production sites in other countries if needed.
Mitsui Chemicals expects STOBA batteries to account for 10 percent of total shipments of lithium-ion batteries around the world by 2020, said Akio Hirahara, general manager of the company’s new market development division.
Citing Fuji Keizai, a Japan-based information provider, Mitsui Chemicals said the market for lithium-ion batteries would increase to 80 gigawatt hours in 2020 from an estimated 40 gigawatt hours this year.
Mitsui Chemicals said it plans to use the new technology to make materials for batteries used in cellphones, personal computers and cars.
“Compared with local chemical companies, Mitsui Chemicals has stronger ties with car makers, which can help promote STOBA technology in the car industry,” said Pan Jing-pin (潘金平), a division director at the institute.
Pan said Mitsui Chemicals’ electrolytic solution is used in batteries for Boeing 787 and electric vehicles developed by Nissan Motor Co.
Mitsui Chemicals is also the largest producer of polypropylene compounds around the world, with Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co its two major clients, the company said.
STOBA materials can form films in lithium-ion batteries to stop the chemical reaction and terminate the batteries safely when the batteries’ internal temperature rise to abnormal levels, the institute said, adding that STOBA batteries last twice as long as than other lithium-ion batteries.
The technology won the R&D 100 Awards in Energy Devices in 2009, the institute said, adding that STOBA batteries manufactured by Amita Technologies Inc (有量科技) are now used in China Motor Corp’s (中華汽車) E-moving 100 electric scooters.
In addition to Amita Technologies, the institute licensed the technology for manufacturing STOBA batteries to three other Taiwanese lithium battery makers — E-One Moli Energy Corp (能元科技), Lion Tech Co (精極科技) and Synergy ScienTech Corp (興能高科技) — last year, it said.
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
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”