Contract electronics manufacturer Inventec Corp (英業達) plans to file bankruptcy for its solar unit at Taoyuan District Court in the face of huge liabilities, vice president Yu Chin-pao (游進寶) told a news conference at the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
“Today, our board of directors has voted to declare bankruptcy at Inventec Solar Energy Corp (英穩達),” Yu said, “The main reason is the latest financial statement shows that the unit’s assets no longer cover its more than NT$2.2 billion [US$79.95 million] in debts as of the third quarter.”
“This is a decision that was made out of necessity,” he said.
Photo: Fang Wei-jie, Taipei Times
Established in 2010, the solar unit is 47.65 percent owned by Inventec Corp, with Win Semiconductors Corp (穩懋半導體) being another major shareholder. It designs and manufactures mono and multi-crystalline silicon solar cells.
Yu said the fast-changing solar cell market caught the company off guard.
“Extreme price-cutting in the market, combined with growing protectionism around the world, led the global solar market into a depression,” he said. “Although Inventec Solar has restructured to be leaner, it was not able to withstand the widening losses in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In addition, the rate at which production equipment becomes obsolete in the solar photovoltaic industry is too fast, causing a lot of problems, he said.
The bankruptcy of the solar unit marks Inventec’s exit from the solar cell market, Yu said, adding that the company has no plans to return to the market, but might consider other renewable energy segments.
Inventec’s business would not be heavily affected by the solar unit’s bankruptcy, as the company has written off losses related to the investment, he said.
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