Denmark-based wind turbine manufacturer MHI Vestas Offshore Wind A/S yesterday signed a conditional contract of purchase with Mitsubishi Electric (Europe) Corp.
The Japanese firm is to cooperate with its long-time Taiwanese partner, Shihlin Electric & Engineering Corp (士林電機), to deliver high-voltage switchgear to MHI Vestas.
“Shihlin Electric would deliver [the switchgear] to us by 2022, which would then be used for the [wind farm] projects due in 2023 and 2024,” MHI Vestas co-CEO Lars Bondo Krogsgaard said during a signing ceremony in Taipei.
THREE PROJECTS
MHI Vestas is to deliver 9 megawatt turbine platform units for the Chang Fang (彰芳) and Xidao (西島) projects, developed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners K/S (CIP), as well as for the Site 29 project, which is codeveloped by CIP, China Steel Corp (中鋼) and Diamond Generating Asia Ltd (DGA).
All three projects are located off Changhua County and are to generate a total of 900 megawatts.
Mitsubishi has designed a 66 kilovolt switchgear that Shihlin Electric would manufacture, test and assemble at its Hsinchu plant, said Joseph Kuo (郭約瑟), chief senior vice president of Shihlin Electric’s heavy electric business group, at a news conference.
Krogsgaard said that MHI Vestas would contribute NT$9.2 billion (US$293.31 million) to Taiwan’s output value and create 5,300 job opportunities through its ventures in the nation.
The Danish company has signed contracts with other local suppliers, such as Swancor Holding Co (上緯投控) for blade materials and Chin Fong Machine Industrial Co (金豐機器工業) for turbine towers, to comply with localization content rules tied to offshore wind farm projects in Taiwan.
CALL FOR FLEXIBILITY
However, Krogsgaard called for more flexibility from Taiwanese authorities, as he described the localization of power conversions systems as “mission impossible,” as property rights belong to Vestas Wind Systems A/S, which holds a 50 percent stake in the company.
“We cannot work with others without infringing on the agreements that we have with Vestas,” Krogsgaard said, adding that the company has proposed various solutions to the government, such as localizing the production of power conversion modules, which contain more than 7,000 components.
“This would create additional value for Taiwan’s economy,” he said.
CIP Taiwan project office chief executive officer Jesper Krarup Holst also asked for more wiggle room in the local content rules.
“Up to 16 components are required by the government to be localized regardless of brands and assembly techniques,” Holst said.
He urged the government to reidentify the requirements to facilitate the development of Taiwan’s wind power industry.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
‘FAILED EXPORT CONTROLS’: Jensen Huang said that Washington should maximize the speed of AI diffusion, because not doing so would give competitors an advantage Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday criticized the US government’s restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, saying that the policy was a failure and would only spur China to accelerate AI development. The export controls gave China the spirit, motivation and government support to accelerate AI development, Huang told reporters at the Computex trade show in Taipei. The competition in China is already intense, given its strong software capabilities, extensive technology ecosystems and work efficiency, he said. “All in all, the export controls were a failure. The facts would suggest it,” he said. “The US
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed gratitude to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) for its plan to invest approximately 250 million euros (US$278 million) in a joint venture in France focused on the semiconductor and space industries. On his official X account on Tuesday, Macron thanked Hon Hai, also known globally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), for its investment projects announced at Choose France, a flagship economic summit held on Monday to attract foreign investment. In the post, Macron included a GIF displaying the national flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan), as he did for other foreign investors, including China-based
RSS