Yageo Corp (國巨) plans to transfer NT$10 billion (US$332.37 million) from abroad to boost capacity and research and development (R&D) for high-end passive components used in automobile and industrial devices.
The move demonstrates Yageo’s commitment to increasing its investments in Taiwan, as the nation plays an important role in its manufacturing of niche products and R&D efforts, the Kaohsiung-based company said yesterday.
Yageo, the world’s third-largest passive components maker, generated about half of its total production and 90 percent of its R&D at its Kaohsiung operations and R&D center, it said in a statement.
“To meet growing demand from 5G technology and automotive electronics, the company has launched a series of investments in Taiwan in the past few years,” Yageo said.
The investments would “help the company fuel growth momentum in the long run.”
Passive components used in industrial devices and automobiles contributed 31 percent and 15 percent respectively to Yageo’s total revenue of NT$31.29 billion in the first three quarters of last year.
Last month, the company signed a letter of intent with the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) to build a new production line in Kaohsiung’s Ciaotou District (橋頭).
Yageo plans to hire 900 workers for the Ciaotou line and recruit 200 engineers to expand its R&D team, it has said.
The company earlier last year also secured a government loan of NT$16.5 billion to fund its domestic investment and acquired land in Kaohsiung’s industrial zone to build a new factory.
To solve supply constraints, Yageo said it has boosted its equipment utilization rate for multilayer ceramic capacitor and chip resistors to about 50 percent, from as low as 25 percent in October last year.
However, labor shortages in China remain an obstacle to boosting utilization rate in the short term, the company said.
Separately, Yageo’s board of directors has approved offering 80 million new common shares in the form of global depositary receipts (GDRs), as the company aims to raise funds to replenish operating capital, repay debts and purchase raw materials, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
The GDR offering is to boost the firm’s share capital to 509.05 million shares from 429.05 million, but would dilute its earnings per share by 18 percent, the company said.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS