Giga Solar Materials Corp (碩禾電子), the nation’s biggest solar materials producer, yesterday said that it exports most of its solar silver paste to Europe and China, rather than to the US, defying speculation about a potential patent infringement lawsuit in the US.
Giga Solar’s statement came after the Chinese-language Economic Daily News yesterday reported that US-based DuPont Co plans to file a patent infringement suit against the firm in the US.
DuPont also told other local solar cell manufacturers, including Gintech Energy Corp (昱晶), not to use solar silver paste from Giga Solar to avoid legal disputes, the newspaper reported.
“The company has no information about whether our customers use our solar silver paste in manufacturing products that are later shipped to the US,” Giga Solar said in a statement filed yesterday with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Gintech said it had not received any written warning from DuPont.
Giga Solar shares plunged 6.48 percent to NT$447.5 in Taipei trading yesterday, while Gintech shares fell 1.78 percent to NT$19.35.
Separately, Neo Solar Power Corp (新日光), the nation’s biggest solar cell maker, said it has signed a contract with Canadian Solar Inc to next year begin supplying 400 megawatt solar cells, deepening its partnership with the Ontario-based company.
The deal provides relief to Neo Solar after negative ripple effects from US anti-dumping and anti-subsidiary probes into Chinese and Taiwanese solar companies.
“We are glad that we have signed a major supply contract with Canadian Solar, which has been a long-term partner of Neo Solar since 2007, when Neo Solar began supplying solar cells to the company,” Neo Solar chairman Quincy Lin (林坤禧) said in a statement.
“This deal will help drive Neo Solar’s growth and will help Canadian Solar’s rapid business expansion next year,” Lin said.
Neo Solar attributed its NT$153 million (US$4.93 million) loss last quarter to a US investigation and preliminary tariff proposal.
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