Compal Electronics Co (仁寶電腦), the world’s No. 2 contract laptop computer maker, yesterday confirmed that it is to invest a total of US$500 million in its manufacturing plant in Vietnam.
“In a bid to meet the client’s growing demand, the company decided to reopen the plant in Vietnam,” Compal spokesman Gary Lu (呂清雄) said by telephone.
Compal president Ray Chen (陳瑞聰) in June told shareholders that the company expects its non-notebook business, which accounted for 23 percent of the firm’s total revenues last year, to grow by at least 30 percent this year, as the company successfully entered the supply chains of two new smartphone maker clients.
“One of the new smartphone clients is a Chinese handset maker,” Chen said.
Lu said Compal has started to manufacture a small number of smartphones in Vinh Phuc Province, Vietnam, and is to gradually expand the production capacity of the plant.
Compal plans to inject US$500 million into the plant in several installments and is to increase its labor force from 200 people to 2,000 people.
The Taiwanese contract manufacturer announced in November 2007 that it would build a manufacturing plant in Vietnam in an attempt to expand its production capacity for the growing notebook business.
The Vietnamese government granted Compal an investment permit in the same year, with the investment expected to generate 35,000 jobs, according to Vietnamese newspaper Vietnamnet Bridge.
Compal in March 2013 suspended operations at the Vinh Phuc plant, citing incomplete supply chains for notebook products, infrastructure deficiencies and low operation efficiency.
Compal plans to focus on manufacturing smartphones in the reinvested plant, as they require less components and have an easier manufacturing processes compared with Compal’s other products, Lu said.
“Supply chain issues in the manufacturing of smartphones are easier to solve,” Lu said, adding that the company does not plan to produce other devices at the plant at this time.
Vietnam’s vice chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Chuc was quoted by the Vietnamnet Bridge as saying that the local government is willing to support Compal in implementing its investment project.
Compal’s stock price dropped 0.52 percent to close at NT$18.95 in Taipei trading yesterday, underperforming the TAIEX, which gained 0.11 percent.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) secured a record 70.2 percent share of the global foundry business in the second quarter, up from 67.6 percent the previous quarter, and continued widening its lead over second-placed Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Monday. TSMC posted US$30.24 billion in sales in the April-to-June period, up 18.5 percent from the previous quarter, driven by major smartphone customers entering their ramp-up cycle and robust demand for artificial intelligence chips, laptops and PCs, which boosted wafer shipments and average selling prices, TrendForce said in a report. Samsung’s sales also grew in the second quarter, up
LIMITED IMPACT: Investor confidence was likely sustained by its relatively small exposure to the Chinese market, as only less advanced chips are made in Nanjing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) saw its stock price close steady yesterday in a sign that the loss of the validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing, China, fab should have a mild impact on the world’s biggest contract chipmaker financially and technologically. Media reports about the waiver loss sent TSMC down 1.29 percent during the early trading session yesterday, but the stock soon regained strength and ended at NT$1,160, unchanged from Tuesday. Investors’ confidence in TSMC was likely built on its relatively small exposure to the Chinese market, as Chinese customers contributed about 9 percent to TSMC’s revenue last
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump weighed in on a pressing national issue: The rebranding of a restaurant chain. Last week, Cracker Barrel, a Tennessee company whose nationwide locations lean heavily on a cozy, old-timey aesthetic — “rocking chairs on the porch, a warm fire in the hearth, peg games on the table” — announced it was updating its logo. Uncle Herschel, the man who once appeared next to the letters with a barrel, was gone. It sparked ire on the right, with Donald Trump Jr leading a charge against the rebranding: “WTF is wrong with Cracker Barrel?!” Later, Trump Sr weighed
LOOPHOLES: The move is to end a break that was aiding foreign producers without any similar benefit for US manufacturers, the US Department of Commerce said US President Donald Trump’s administration would make it harder for Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc to ship critical equipment to their chipmaking operations in China, dealing a potential blow to the companies’ production in the world’s largest semiconductor market. The US Department of Commerce in a notice published on Friday said that it was revoking waivers for Samsung and SK Hynix to use US technologies in their Chinese operations. The companies had been operating in China under regulations that allow them to import chipmaking equipment without applying for a new license each time. The move would revise what is known
RSS