AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), the nation’s second-largest LCD panel maker, yesterday said it has reduced its local workforce by more than 70 people after shutting down an out-of-date production line.
To rejuvenate its assets, AUO sold an old, cost-inefficient production line last month and relocated about half of the more than 100 production workers to other plants.
About 70 workers were willing to quit their jobs for personal reasons, the company said.
“The reduction in the workforce is to upgrade factory efficiency rather than cope with an industrial slowdown,” company spokesperson Gwen Ting (丁秋文) said by telephone.
Innolux Corp (群創), the nation’s largest LCD panel maker, yesterday said it had laid off 31 employees in the first half of this year as they failed to pass a regular job appraisal, rather than because of an industrial slowdown.
Innolux’s statement came after the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported that local panel makers, including Innolux and AUO, had cut jobs to weather a slump in demand.
Innolux said that it plans to hire workers at its new plant in Kaohsiung which is due to begin operations next year. The company has no plans to cut any more jobs, it said.
As of Friday last week, companies at the Hsinchu Science Park reported laying off 241 workers, excluding those from Innolux, said Chang chin-feng (張金豐), deputy director general of the science park administration.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new