US chipmaker Qualcomm Inc plans to invest NT$63 billion (US$1.97 billion) to build a new display fab in Taiwan to provide energy-saving color flat panels for electronic devices like e-readers next year to compete with existing e-paper suppliers, a government official said yesterday.
The investment is the second step taken by Qualcomm MEMS Technologies, a display arm of Qualcomm, to expand capacity in Taiwan after launching its display joint venture — Sollink Inc (高強光電) — with local electronic component maker Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co (正崴) last year.
COLOR DISPLAYS
“Qualcomm MEMS expects to crank out the first batch [of color displays for e-readers] in the second half of next year,” Northern Taiwan Science Park Administration director-general Randy Yen (顏宗明) told reporters on the sidelines of a media briefing.
Qualcomm MEMS plans to build a fifth-generation (5G) plant at the end of this year on a 5.1-hectare plot leased from the government, according to the investment proposal submitted to the science park administration.
The planned fab will be able to process a maximum of 50,000 sheets of mother glasses a month, using its Mirasol technology, the science park said.
As it does not use backlight as a light source, a Mirasol display consumes 40 percent less energy than a comparable LCD display, Qualcomm MEMS said last year.
In November last year, the company showcased its 5.7-inch color displays for e-readers in London.
Taiwan’s E Ink Holdings Inc (元太) currently commands more than 90 percent of the global market for e-paper displays, which are used mostly in e-readers such as the Kindle series from online bookstore Amazon.
Qualcomm MEMS now supplies Mirasol displays from a 4.5G plant via Sollink in Longtan Township (龍潭), Taoyuan County.
It has shipped those displays to smartphone and handheld device makers such as local firm Cal-Comp Electronics (Thailand) Pub Co Ltd (泰金寶).
SCIENCE PARKS
Yesterday, the nation’s three science park administrations raised their revenue forecast from companies operating in the parks to a record-high NT$2.3 trillion this year, from the NT$1.9 trillion estimated in February.
That would represent about 46 percent growth from NT$1.58 trillion in revenues last year when the global financial crisis hurt electronics consumption.
In the first half, these science parks generated total revenue of NT$1.52 trillion, with 91.3 percent of the revenue coming from semiconductor and optoelectronics companies, the National Science Council’s tallies showed.
The improving global economy has helped boost demand for electronics such as chips and LCDs and the growth momentum would carry into next two quarters, according to council.
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