Prime View International Co (元太科技), which supplies e-paper displays used in e-readers including Amazon’s Kindle, yesterday said it planned to more than triple its capital spending this year to cope with fast-growing demand.
The investment is part of Prime View’s five-year plan to expand capacity 14-fold, the Hsinchu-based company told investors at a conference in Taipei.
The expansion also reflects Prime View’s optimism about the e-reader market this year as a growing number of global publishers and electronic device makers are following in the footsteps of US online book store Amazon to enter the e-reader market, the company said.
Prime View supplies e-paper displays using technology from E-Ink Corp, a company it acquired last year. E-Ink outpaced peers such as Sipix Technology Inc (達意科技) in mass producing e-paper displays for customers. Sipix is a subsidiary of Taiwan’s top flat-panel maker AU Optronics Corp (友達光電).
“Our expansion is based on forecasts from our customers,” company chairman Scott Liu (劉思誠) said. “This year, there will be at least 50 new e-readers hitting the market, most of them using E-Ink technology.”
Prime View also supplies e-paper displays to Sony Corp and Barnes & Noble Inc, the biggest bookseller in the US.
To catch up with growing demand, Prime View planned to spend between US$50 million and US$60 million on new equipment to double capacity, Liu said. Last year, the company budgeted more than NT$500 million (US$15.63 million) for new machines.
Overall, global e-reader shipments may exceed market forecasts of 10 million units this year, Liu said.
One key reason is some companies such as Sony plan to launch low-cost e-readers, which will be outfitted with smaller displays of about 5-inches, with a retail price of less than US$200 per unit, Liu said.
“The US$200 price level could hit the sweet spot to trigger tremendous market growth,” Liu said.
Prime View also planned to launch flexible and colored e-paper displays after overcoming technological barriers, Liu said.
Market researcher Topology Research Institute (拓墣產業研究所), based in Taipei, projected e-reader shipments may more than double to 91 million units this year from last year’s 35.5 million.
Addressing recent concerns about competition from Apple Inc, Liu said he believed the launch of Apple’s tablet PC, or iPad, would not jeopardize e-reader sales, saying the iPad is equipped with a TFT display, which is less suitable for text reading, and other short comings like shorter battery life and extra costs for 3G wireless Internet connection.
The company led local rivals in cranking out the first thin-film-transistor displays about 14 years ago. Now the company is shifting away from the volatile and capital-intensive thin-film-transistor display industry to focus on a thriving e-reader market.
Liu said company net income grew more than four-fold in the fourth quarter, compared to NT$57 million in the third quarter.
The company may earn around NT$285 million for the quarter ending Dec. 31.
Shares of Prime View jumped 6.88 percent yesterday to NT$63.7, ahead of the investors’ conference.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday held its first board of directors meeting in the US, at which it did not unveil any new US investments despite mounting tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, prompting market speculation that TSMC might consider boosting its chip capacity in the US or ramping up production of advanced chips such as those using a 2-nanometer technology process at its Arizona fabs ahead of schedule. Speculation also swirled that the chipmaker might consider building its own advanced packaging capacity in the US as part
A move by US President Donald Trump to slap a 25 percent tariff on all steel imports is expected to place Taiwan-made steel, which already has a 25 percent tariff, on an equal footing, the Taiwan Steel & Iron Industries Association said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, association chairman Hwang Chien-chih (黃建智) said such an equal footing is expected to boost Taiwan’s competitive edge against other countries in the US market, describing the tariffs as "positive" for Taiwanese steel exporters. On Monday, Trump signed two executive orders imposing the new metal tariffs on imported steel and aluminum with no exceptions and exemptions, effective
RSS