Photovoltaic solar system supplier Lite-On Green Technologies Inc (光寶綠色能資) expects business to grow as much as five-fold this year as the solar startup gains a foothold in Europe and expands to Asian markets, a company executive said yesterday.
Lite-On Green Technologies, established two years ago, is a green energy subsidiary of electronic component manufacturer Lite-On Group (光寶集團), which has accelerated its transformation into a clean energy provider in recent years by producing clean power supplies, light-emitting-diode (LED) lamps and LED backlighting for notebook computers.
Last year, Lite-On Green Technologies, helped IKEA build a 5-megawatt photovoltaic solar array on the roof of the Swedish furniture maker’s Winterslag warehouse in Belgium. This year, it aims to win solar installation projects with a total capacity of between 30 megawatts and 50 megawatts, a jump from the 15-megawatt projects it received last year, company president Michael Chuang (莊美琛) told a media briefing yesterday.
“We have proved our capabilities in the world’s most competitive [solar] market in Europe,” Chuang said. “And we are hoping to expand our business to Asian markets.”
“China is a fast-growing market,” he said.
Yesterday, unlisted Lite-On Green Technologies unveiled two new projects.
The firm said it was hired to help complete the remaining part of a solar power plant for a Michelin tire factory in Homburg, Germany.
It also won a contract to build a solar power system at Fritz Walter World Cup Football Stadium in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and obtained the right to operate the power plant for 20 years after its completion.
That will make Lite-On Green Technologies the first Taiwanese company to operate a solar power plant in Europe.
“Operating power plants will be part of our revenue sources, but it will not play a major role,” Chuang said.
To cope with the fast growing demand, Lite-On Green Technologies plans to double its headcount to 40 people this year.
The company started eking out profits in the second year of its inception last year. Chuang said it made a higher gross margin than that of affiliated Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技), without giving the figure.
Lite-On Technology’s gross margin improved to 13.8 percent in the first three quarters of last year, from 13.2 percent the previous year.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
AVIATION: Despite production issues in the US, the Taoyuan-based airline expects to receive 24 passenger planes on schedule, while one freight plane is delayed The ongoing strike at Boeing Co has had only a minor impact on China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), although the delivery of a new cargo jet might be postponed, CAL chairman Hsieh Su-chien (謝世謙) said on Saturday. The 24 Boeing 787-9 passenger aircraft on order would be delivered on schedule from next year to 2028, while one 777F freight aircraft would be delayed, Hsieh told reporters at a company event. Boeing, which announced a decision on Friday to cut 17,000 jobs — about one-tenth of its workforce — is facing a strike by 33,000 US west coast workers that has halted production
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
RSS