Motech Industries Inc (茂迪), the nation’s biggest solar cell maker, yesterday said it planned to shut down factories at its money-losing US polysilicon manufacturing unit and sell the assets as falling solar cell prices drive the company into a deep financial abyss.
“Drastic changes in the solar industry has made it difficult for polysilicon producer AE Polysilicon Corp to reach economies of scale and has weakened its price competitiveness,” the solar cell maker said in a statement submitted to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The price of polysilicon, a raw material used to make solar wafers, dropped to about US$22 per kilogram, according to a survey released last week by market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技). That was a dramatic decline from a peak of US$500 per kilogram in 2008.
Motech said AE Polysilicon, of which the Taiwanese company owns a 30 percent share, is laying off employees. As of April 30, Motech had invested US$26 million in AE Polysilicon since 2006 and has prepaid US$15 million for future purchases of polysilicon, company spokesman Jack Hsieh (謝祖葳) said in the statement.
Last year, Motech booked NT$370 million (US$12.48 million) in non-operating losses, primarily from AE Polysilicon, according to the company’s stock exchange filing. Motech lost NT$2.49 billion last year.
Motech posted smaller losses for the first quarter, at NT$981 million, on the back of improved factory utilization, compared with a loss of NT$1.94 billion in the final quarter of last year and a net profit of NT$686 million in the same period last year.
Motech shares dropped 0.72 percent to NT$47.95 yesterday, while local rival E-Ton solar Tech Co Ltd (益通) rallied 4.03 percent to NT$15.5.
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
CUSTOMERS’ BURDEN: TSMC already has operations in the US and is a foundry, so any tariff increase would mostly affect US customers, not the company, the minister said Taiwanese manufacturers are “not afraid” of US tariffs, but are concerned about being affected more heavily than regional economic competitors Japan and South Korea, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said. “Taiwan has many advantages that other countries do not have, the most notable of which is its semiconductor ecosystem,” Kuo said. The US “must rely on Taiwan” to boost its microchip manufacturing capacities, Kuo said in an interview ahead of his one-year anniversary in office tomorrow. Taiwan has submitted a position paper under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act to explain the “complementary relationship” between Taiwan and the US
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