Solar cell and module maker Motech Industries Inc (茂迪) yesterday said it plans to invest NT$1.5 billion (US$53.89 million) to expand production, with NT$400 million earmarked for high-efficiency next-generation solar cell capacity expansion.
The firm’s board of directors has approved the capital expenditure, the largest in five years, amid strong demand for the company’s tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) cells, Motech Industries president Fred Yeh (葉正賢) said.
“As photovoltaic systems integrator companies become more educated about the benefits of TOPCon solar cells, we are seeing strong demand,” Yeh said. “Orders are backed up into the second quarter of 2022.”
Photo: Chan Shih-hung, Taipei Times
“The next generation of TOPCon solar cell technology can raise the conversion rate to more than 22 percent, meaning that costs can be lowered by 6 to 8 percent,” he said.
Motech is expanding capacity from 15 megawatts (MW) to 200MW to satisfy demand and expand sales, he said.
“The next generation of batteries is 14.6 percent more efficient than previous [generations] and will produce more power, even under cloudy conditions,” Yeh said.
From the rest of the money, NT$1 billion is to go toward building more solar cell systems, while NT$100 million is to be invested in aquavoltaics, which combine eel and shrimp farms with solar photovoltaic arrays to get the most out of limited space, he said.
The company is new to aquavoltaics, Yeh said.
There is 30MW of capacity under development, which should join the grid “within the next year,” he said.
The beginning of the end is in sight for a parts shortage crisis that has plagued the tech sector this year amid supply chain bottlenecks and logistics logjams, Yeh said.
“Revenue and costs for Motech will peak [this] quarter, but the worst of the parts crisis is over,” he said.
Yeh said that he expects strong demand for Motech Industries’ solar cells to continue well into the second and third quarter of next year.
STEADY: Prices are to rebound following inventory rebuilding demand, TrendForce said, with Samsung Electronics Co further trimming capacity as it slashes DDR4 lines The contract prices of DRAM chips are to rise by as much as 18 percent sequentially this quarter — the first price upticks in about eight quarters — driven mainly by inventory rebuilding demand for DRAM chips used in mobile devices and PCs, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) projected yesterday. The price rebound is led by a quarterly increase of mobile DRAM chips, which are to climb between 13 percent and 18 percent quarter-on-quarter this quarter, which has not been seen since the fourth quarter of 2021, the Taipei-based market researcher predicted. Likewise, the price of mainstream PC DDR4 DRAM is expected to bounce
CHINA NOT A FRIEND: ‘Newsflash: Democracy is good for your businesses,’ US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said as she gave a speech at a national defense forum US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on Saturday urged lawmakers, Silicon Valley and US allies to stop China from getting semiconductors and cutting-edge technologies key to national security. Speaking at an annual national defense forum in Simi Valley, California, Raimondo called Beijing “the biggest threat we’ve ever had” and stressed that “China is not our friend.” The world’s top two economies are locked in a fierce commercial and geopolitical rivalry, in which her department plays a leading role. In October, Raimondo unveiled a series of restrictions on the export of advanced chips to China, including those used in the development of artificial intelligence
SOLID FOUNDATION: Given its decades of expertise in megatronics, manufacturing and robotics, Japan has the wherewithal to create its own AI, Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp plans to help build an artificial intelligence (AI) tech-related ecosystem in Japan to meet demand in a country eager to gain an edge in this emerging technology. The US company will seek to partner with Japanese research organizations, companies and start-ups to build factories for AI, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday during opening remarks in a meeting with Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura. The company is to set up an AI research laboratory, and invest in local start-ups and educate the public on using AI, Huang said. Huang earlier this week met with Japanese Prime
A Hong Kong court postponed a court hearing on troubled Chinese property developer Evergrande Group’s (恆大集團) winding-up petition scheduled for yesterday until Jan. 29. Evergrande is trying to win support from its creditors for a plan to restructure more than US$300 billion in debt to stave off liquidation. The company’s lawyer told the court it was requesting an adjournment to “refine” its new debt restructuring plan. The Hong Kong High Court has postponed the hearing over Evergrande’s potential liquidation several times. Judge Linda Chan (陳靜芬) had said in October that yesterday’s hearing would be the last before a decision is handed down. Chan
RSS