Touch module and sensor supplier TPK Holding Co (宸鴻) and passive components maker Yageo Corp (國巨) are to invest US$100 million and US$10 million respectively in US electric vehicle start-up Canoo Holdings Ltd to gain a foothold in the supply chain for electric vehicles.
TPK said that the investment would give it a 4 percent stake in the Los Angeles-based company before it lists its shares on NASDAQ through a merger with Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp, a special purpose company.
The move would provide Canoo with about US$600 million, which it needs to build its first vehicles.
Canoo is set to launch its first vehicle in 2022, which is purpose-built for a subscription revenue model, the company said in a statement posted on its Web site.
The start-up has about 300 employees.
“We consider this a financial investment. It would also be great if we could penetrate the supply chains of the electric vehicle start-up and other firms,” a TPK official said by telephone yesterday.
TPK and local flat-panel makers made inroads into the electric vehicle industry a few years ago. The Taipei-based touch sensor and module supplier is supplying touch solutions to Tesla Inc.
Yageo, the third-largest global supplier of multilayer ceramic capacitors, said the investment in Canoo would allow it to further penetrate the supply chain of electric vehicles and autonomous cars, following its acquisition of Kemet Corp and Pulse Electronics Corp in the past two years.
Kemet specializes in making passive components that are used in automobiles, high-end 5G base stations and industrial devices.
Before the acquisition of Kemet, the automotive segment only contributed 8 percent to Yageo’s revenue last year, the company said.
Yageo said that the latest investment aligns with its long-term strategy of concentrating on better-margin high-end passive components, including those used in 5G, automobile and medical devices.
A proposed 100 percent tariff on chip imports announced by US President Donald Trump could shift more of Taiwan’s semiconductor production overseas, a Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) researcher said yesterday. Trump’s tariff policy will accelerate the global semiconductor industry’s pace to establish roots in the US, leading to higher supply chain costs and ultimately raising prices of consumer electronics and creating uncertainty for future market demand, Arisa Liu (劉佩真) at the institute’s Taiwan Industry Economics Database said in a telephone interview. Trump’s move signals his intention to "restore the glory of the US semiconductor industry," Liu noted, saying that
On Ireland’s blustery western seaboard, researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun, but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a “revolution” in wind energy. “We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power,” said Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-meter kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
STILL UNCLEAR: Several aspects of the policy still need to be clarified, such as whether the exemptions would expand to related products, PwC Taiwan warned The TAIEX surged yesterday, led by gains in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), after US President Donald Trump announced a sweeping 100 percent tariff on imported semiconductors — while exempting companies operating or building plants in the US, which includes TSMC. The benchmark index jumped 556.41 points, or 2.37 percent, to close at 24,003.77, breaching the 24,000-point level and hitting its highest close this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) data showed. TSMC rose NT$55, or 4.89 percent, to close at a record NT$1,180, as the company is already investing heavily in a multibillion-dollar plant in Arizona that led investors to assume
RSS