Machine tool maker Goodway Machine Corp (程泰機械), which makes computerized numerical control (CNC) machines, yesterday said that its new plant in Chiayi is to start operations in the fourth quarter, with an expected annual production value of NT$1 billion (US$32.2 million).
The new facility, located in Chiayi’s Dapumei Intelligent Industrial Park, is expected to cost the Taichung-based company about NT$600 million, Goodway spokesperson Elly Chen (陳碧蓮) said at the Taipei International Machine Tool Show.
“The new plant will mainly manufacture CNC machines for customers in the aerospace and energy industries,” Chen said.
She said the company is also to build a pilot production line at Taichung’s Dali Industrial Park for US-based electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc.
The line, which is to make gears for transmission systems in Tesla’s lower-priced compact sedan Model 3, is scheduled to begin production in the middle of the year, Chen said.
“Given our abundant experience in making products for cars, we hope to step into the electric vehicle market this year,” she said.
Goodway manufactures CNC machines for tier-one car component suppliers to Ford Motor Co, Toyota Motor Corp and BMW AG.
Customers in the automotive industry contribute about 40 percent of Goodway’s total revenue, company data showed.
Chen said Awea Mechantronic Co (亞崴), a major subsidiary of Goodway that makes bridge-type CNC machines, is constructing a new plant in Suzhou, China, which is likely to begin production next year with an annual sales target of 200 million yuan (US$28.94 million).
Goodway expects sales to grow further this year amid a global economic recovery and increasing orders from emerging markets.
Citing better order visibility, Goodway sales manager Jeff Peng (彭文鴻) said the company has seen recovering demand in major markets, including China and the US.
In addition, Peng said that Russia is likely to be a target market of Taiwanese machine tool makers on the back of rising demand from Russia’s energy and defense industries.
“We have also seen opportunities in Thailand, as the country is a car production hub in Southeast Asia,” he added.
Last year, Goodway saw its net profits plunge 60.3 percent annually to NT$246.93 million, with sales down 9.4 percent to NT$6.48 billion.
The company attributed the decline to sluggish global demand and a NT$90 million foreign-exchange loss due to appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the US dollar.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last