Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp (台塑河靜鋼鐵興業) is to study the feasibility of building a third furnace to expand production, the Ha Tinh, Vietnam-based firm said on Monday.
Demand for steel from the Southeast Asian market has been strong, prompting the company to mull the possibility of expansion, chairman Chen Yuan-cheng (陳源成) told reporters.
However, whether it follows through on the idea depends on its shareholders and on whether the Vietnamese government would support the plan, Chen added.
Formosa Ha Tinh Steel’s second furnace, located in the Vung Ang Economic Zone of Ha Tinh Province, started operations on May 18, while the first furnace became operational on May 29 last year.
Chen said that the first furnace rolled out about 1.6 million tonnes of molten iron last year, while the second furnace, which is operating at 95 percent, is expected to produce 5 million tonnes this year, generating US$2.5 billion in sales.
Production from the second furnace this year is expected to boost economic growth in Vietnam by 1.27 percentage points, up from 0.45 percentage points last year, according to an estimate by Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團).
The group, which is the largest shareholder in the Ha Tinh Steel venture, owns a 70 percent stake, while China Steel Corp (中鋼) holds a 25 percent stake and Japan’s JFE Steel Corp 5 percent.
The shareholders have invested more than US$10 billion in the steel mill, making it the largest foreign investment in Vietnam.
A feasibility plan would be conducted on the third furnace by next year at the earliest, given US-China trade tensions, and other factors, Chen said.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
AVIATION: Despite production issues in the US, the Taoyuan-based airline expects to receive 24 passenger planes on schedule, while one freight plane is delayed The ongoing strike at Boeing Co has had only a minor impact on China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), although the delivery of a new cargo jet might be postponed, CAL chairman Hsieh Su-chien (謝世謙) said on Saturday. The 24 Boeing 787-9 passenger aircraft on order would be delivered on schedule from next year to 2028, while one 777F freight aircraft would be delayed, Hsieh told reporters at a company event. Boeing, which announced a decision on Friday to cut 17,000 jobs — about one-tenth of its workforce — is facing a strike by 33,000 US west coast workers that has halted production
AI AIM: The chipmaker wants joint research and development programs with the Czech Republic, and the government is considering supporting investments in a Czech location Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is planning to build more plants in Europe with a focus on the market for artificial intelligence (AI) chips as the chipmaker expands its global footprint, a senior Taiwanese official said. “They have started construction of the first fab in Dresden; they are already planning the next few fabs in the future for different market sectors as well,” National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) told Bloomberg TV in an interview that aired yesterday. Wu did not specify a timeline for TSMC’s further expansion in Europe. TSMC in an e-mailed statement said it
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
RSS