The nation’s biggest solar panel maker, Green Energy Technology Inc (綠能科技), yesterday posted an audited net income for last year that was 93 percent lower than the previous year as prices plummeted because of oversupply after economic woes retrenched demand.
Last year, Green Energy earned NT$115 million (US$3.62 million), or NT$0.82 per share, down from NT$1.47 billion, or NT$12.05 per share in 2008, a company statement read. Gross margin plunged to 3.8 percent from 23.8 percent over the same period.
However, Green Energy sees more positive signs for this year. It is set to unveil expansion plans to increase capacity later this year to satisfy customer demand, the statement read.
The chipmaker’s plants were “fully utilized for three consecutive quarters,” the company said in the statement.
To match the uptrend, Green Energy said it plans to boost ingot growing capacity by nearly 40 percent to 500 megawatts this quarter, up from 360 megawatts at the end of last year.
To support the company’s expansion, the board approved plans to raise funds by selling corporate bonds or 17.97 million new shares in the form of global depositary receipts, overseas or at home.
The plan will be discussed during the annual general shareholder’s meeting scheduled for June 4.
Earlier this year, company president Lin Hur-lon (林和龍) said the chipmaker had been in discussions over whether to raise prices by 3 percent in February. This was in response to a rebound in demand after governments in Europe, Asia and Australia appeared to be resuming or increasing subsidies for solar panel installation after the worst of the economic crisis appeared to be over.
Market researcher Solarbuzz forecasts that the global solar industry is expected to resume high-speed growth over the next five-year period to at least US$100 billion in 2014.
Demand in the second half of last year proved to be robust, setting the stage for 38 percent growth this year, Solarbuzz said in a report released in December.
Last year, revenues in the global solar industry fell by 25 percent year-on-year to US$38 billion, according to Solarbuzz’s statistics.
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
Taiwanese manufacturers have a chance to play a key role in the humanoid robot supply chain, Tongtai Machine and Tool Co (東台精機) chairman Yen Jui-hsiung (嚴瑞雄) said yesterday. That is because Taiwanese companies are capable of making key parts needed for humanoid robots to move, such as harmonic drives and planetary gearboxes, Yen said. This ability to produce these key elements could help Taiwanese manufacturers “become part of the US supply chain,” he added. Yen made the remarks a day after Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) are jointly
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) expects its addressable market to grow by a low single-digit percentage this year, lower than the overall foundry industry’s 15 percent expansion and the global semiconductor industry’s 10 percent growth, the contract chipmaker said yesterday after reporting the worst profit in four-and-a-half years in the fourth quarter of last year. Growth would be fueled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, a moderate recovery in consumer electronics and an increase in semiconductor content, UMC said. “UMC’s goal is to outgrow our addressable market while maintaining our structural profitability,” UMC copresident Jason Wang (王石) told an online earnings
MARKET SHIFTS: Exports to the US soared more than 120 percent to almost one quarter, while ASEAN has steadily increased to 18.5 percent on rising tech sales The proportion of Taiwan’s exports directed to China, including Hong Kong, declined by more than 12 percentage points last year compared with its peak in 2020, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday last week. The decrease reflects the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, driven by escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Data compiled by the ministry showed China and Hong Kong accounted for 31.7 percent of Taiwan’s total outbound sales last year, a drop of 12.2 percentage points from a high of 43.9 percent in 2020. In addition to increasing trade conflicts between China and the US, the ministry said
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