Corning Inc, the world's leading supplier of glass for liquid-crystal-displays (LCDs), opened a research center in Taiwan yesterday to develop next-generation technologies in diversified areas including the display, energy and biotechnology industries.
The facility, located in Hsinchu, Taiwan's Silicon Valley, is the New-York-based company's fifth research center, and only its second in Asia. Corning operates the first such research facility in Japan, which focuses purely on developing display-related technologies.
Innovation
PHOTO: CHEN MEI-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
"A basic precept of our global innovation effort is to strengthen our research presence internationally ... we recognize Asia's growing influence on future technology in many of Corning's growing businesses," said Joseph Miller, Corning's chief technology officer, in his opening speech.
Corning declined to reveal its specific investment in the new research center, but it said it would pour in more capital over time.
The launch of Corning's research facility follows that of Merck KGaA, the world's leading supplier of liquid crystals, which opened a NT$900 million (US$27.7 million) research and manufacturing facility in northern Taiwan in the middle of last year.
"The investment [in the research center] is small ... We believe the collaboration [with local researchers] will bring synergy," said Eugene Verdon, president of Corning's local branch.
Corning said it plans to recruit about eight scientists for the new laboratory by the end of next year, targeting mostly local experts.
Multinational companies have invested NT$24 billion in setting up research and development centers in Taiwan over the past four years, according to the government's latest statistics.
Corning's new Hsinchu laboratory is relatively small in terms of the number of staff it will employ, compared to its French facility, which employs 122 people.
But Verdon stressed that "this is just the first step."
The new research facility aims to develop a wide range of future technologies, which could include the new Organic Light Emitting Display technology for displays as well as alternative energy fuel cells, according to Verdon.
In addition to its facilities in Asia, Corning currently operates three other research centers in Russia, France and the US.
Collaboration
Corning will also collaborate with the government-financed Industrial Technology Research Institute to develop new technologies on an as-needed basis.
The company opened its third LCD glass fuel facility in central Taiwan last December at a cost of up to US$1.5 billion.
Corning spent US$439 million on research and development last year, outdoing big companies such as chipmaker IBM Corp.
This expenditure accounted for around 10 percent of Corning's total revenues of NT$4.58 billion for last year.
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
RSS