Shares of solar cell makers tumbled yesterday on fears of material shortages, sparked by reports that Chinese supplier LDK Solar Co (江西賽維) may delay deliveries.
LDK, a manufacturer of polycrystalline solar wafers based in Jiangxi Province, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Shares of Motech Industries Inc (茂迪), Taiwan's biggest manufacturer of solar cells, dipped by the 7 percent daily limit to NT$327.5.
Those of smaller rival E-ton Solar Tech Co (
To reassure investors, E-ton said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday that the company sourced a "slight" percentage of materials from LDK and therefore production would not be affected.
The Chinese supplier also assured E-ton that deliveries will be on time, the statement said.
E-ton sources most of its raw materials from Japanese supplier M.Setek, and is getting new supply from US-based Adema Technologies Inc, which E-ton acquired for US$153.7 million in cash and stock in June, company president Tsai Chin-yao (蔡進耀) said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Mosel, which signed a five-year contract with LDK at the end of last month, also said in a statement to the stock exchange that so far, the company has not received any notice from LDK regarding any change in their contract.
As Mosel sources from a variety of suppliers, the incident will not affect company operations and capacity expansion for next year, Mosel said in the statement.
Under the pact, LDK agreed to supply Mosel with a fixed quantity of wafers valued at US$190 million for the first three years of the pact, starting next year.
Mosel started mass production of solar cells in August and is set to start manufacturing on a second production line next year.
A new Taiwanese client of LDK is Solartech Energy Corp (昇陽光電), which on Wednesday inked a five-year deal with the company.
The deal specifies that the Chinese firm will supply wafers valued at US$224 million for the first three years of the agreement, beginning next year.
Shares of Solartech declined by 0.97 percent to NT$93.71 on the Emerging Stock Market (
Earlier this week, a former LDK financial staff member claimed the Chinese company's inventory reports were inconsistent in e-mail letters sent to LDK's management.
The allegation caused the company's shares to slump by 23.9 percent to US$51.65 on Wednesday. They declined by 6.49 percent to US$48.3 on Thursday.
LDK said in a statement on Thursday that after forming an internal committee to investigate the allegation and conduct an inventory, the management team found no material discrepancies with LDK's financial statements.
"We believe the allegation has no merit," the statement said.
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