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.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
A man walks past real-estate advertisements outside a house in Taipei yesterday. The central bank yesterday said it plans to establish an “Inflation-at-Risk” gauge as a supplementary tool for observing inflation, as policymakers express wish to communicate more effectively with the public when making inflation forecasts.
ABOVE LEGAL REQUIREMENT: The Ministry of Economic Affairs is prepared if LNG supply is disrupted, with more than the legal requirement of 11 days of inventory Taiwan has largely secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies through May and arranged about half of June’s supply, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. Since the Middle East conflict began on Feb. 28, Taiwan’s LNG inventories have remained more than 12 days, exceeding the legal requirement of 11 days, indicating no major supply concerns for domestic gas and electricity, Kung said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. The ministry aims to increase the figure to 14 days by the end of next year, he said. While one or two LNG or crude oil shipments for May
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
RSS