Beefing up its competitiveness in the tablet PC chase, Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), the world’s second-largest portable PC contract maker by revenue, yesterday said it would invest NT$2 billion (US$68 million) in subsidiary Henghao Technology Co (恆顥科技).
“The ‘media pad’ demand will report strong growth in the coming years. Investing in touch panel production can shorten such product design cycles and enhance product competitiveness,” Compal said in a statement.
The total investment amount to Henghao will be NT$2 billion through installments, it said.
Of that, NT$1.4 billion is earmarked for the purchase of a so-called 4.5-generation color-filter facility and related equipment from Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管).
Henghao is Compal’s new wholly-owned subsidiary that was set up this month to engage in the glass-type projected capacitive touch-panel business.
Henghao’s production lines are expected to begin mass production by the second quarter next year at the earliest.
Compal said the initial output would be 70,000 sheets per month, which will be supplied mainly to Compal.
In addition to the touch panel foray, Compal and Sitronix Technology Co (矽創電子) will establish a joint venture to design touch controller ICs specifically for use in tablets, the Chinese-language DigiTimes reported early this month.
Compal will invest more than NT$40 million for a stake of less than 50 percent in the venture. Sitronix, a developer of touch controller ICs for handsets, will be the main operating entity, Compal spokesman Gary Lu (呂清雄) was quoted as saying.
The investment comes in the wake of tablets’ global market potential, which is expected to take off next year, Lu said.
Among Taiwanese notebook contract manufacturers, Compal has led in developing touch controller solutions and has been cooperating with several PC brands, including Acer Inc (宏碁), Toshiba Corp and Dell Inc, to develop tablet PCs, DigiTimes said.
NEW MARKET: The partnership opens up India to the Dutch company, which already has a strong hold in the semiconductor market of South Korea, Taiwan and China ASML Holding NV entered into a partnership agreement with Tata Electronics Pvt Ltd aimed at ramping up India’s goal to develop domestic chip-manufacturing capabilities. The Dutch company’s technology would help power Tata Electronics’ planned 300 millimeter (mm) semiconductor foundry in Gujarat, according to a joint statement from the two companies on Saturday. The signing of a memorandum of understanding coincides with a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Netherlands, which is looking to deepen bilateral relations with New Delhi. ASML, whose top customers include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co, makes lithography machines that can print
ROUGH RECORDS: Bonds in Japan, as well is in New Zealand, Australia and the US, are seeing the effects of a nervy market as stock exchanges across Asia edge down A deepening slump in Japanese government bonds added fuel to the selloff in global debt markets as rising oil prices stoked inflation fears and pushed yields to multi-decade highs. Japan’s 30-year yield yesterday surged as much as 20 basis points to the highest level since the tenor’s debut in 1999, before paring some of the move. Shorter-maturity Japanese debt was also under pressure, underscored by weak demand at a sale of five-year notes that offered a record-high coupon of 2 percent. Concerns over inflation and government spending rippling through markets including the US, Australia and New Zealand are being amplified in Japan,
The US has cleared about 10 Chinese firms to buy Nvidia Corp’s second-most powerful artificial intelligence (AI) chip, the H200, but not a single delivery has been made so far, three people familiar with the matter said, leaving a major technology deal in limbo as chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) seeks a breakthrough in China this week. Huang, who was not initially listed in a White House delegation to Beijing, joined the trip after an invitation from US President Donald Trump, a source said. Trump picked him up in Alaska en route to a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping
Wall Street is licking its chops over an unprecedented slate of massive initial public offerings (IPOs) set to arrive in the coming months, beginning with Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) next month. That is expected to be followed by artificial intelligence (AI) rivals OpenAI and Anthropic PBC. The trio of mega listings, each eyeing valuations around US$1 trillion or more, constitutes a heady period of elevated risk and reward. SpaceX is targeting an IPO that would raise up to US$80 billion — about double the funds generated from all IPOs last year. OpenAI and Anthropic are eyeing IPOs raising US$60 billion. “We’re
RSS