Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co (正崴精密) on Friday announced that it had acquired 1.6 hectares of land in Phoenix, Arizona, as the cable and connector maker is planning to lease a factory and build a green-energy-related production base.
It would be Cheng Uei’s first manufacturing site in the US, the firm said in a statement.
Cheng Uei, headquartered in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城), operates research-and-development and marketing bases in the US — in Los Angeles, San Jose and Seattle.
Photo: Chen Rou-chen, Taipei Times
Cheng Uei, also known as Foxlink, said it is planning to invest in green energy-related industries to produce charging stations, and battery assembly and energy storage equipment, among other products.
Cheng Uei spent US$17.22 million on the Phoenix plot, it added.
Since its establishment in 1986, the company has been supplying connectors, cable assemblies, power management devices and battery packs to some of the world’s leading makers of communications devices, computers and consumer electronics.
“Considering that energy conservation and carbon reduction have become an international consensus, the green energy industry has become one of the industries supported by various countries with a promising outlook,” the company said.
“Therefore, in addition to investing in Shinfox Energy Co (森崴能源) in Taiwan to provide comprehensive green energy services, Cheng Uei is planning a new production base and expanding its green energy-related business to the US market,” it said.
Cheng Uei said it is also planning to build charging stations and energy storage facilities in California for electric vehicles (EVs) and electric school buses.
The company is drafting plans to cooperate with US energy storage equipment manufacturers to establish a charging demonstration station in California, it said.
The demonstration facility would have a 180 kilowatt-hour (kWh) direct current fast-charging station and an energy storage facility with a capacity of 500kWh, the company said, adding that it expects growing demand for EVs and fast charging.
The Phoenix plant would provide comprehensive solutions for electric buses, charging stations and energy storage facilities on campus, which would enable electric buses to send electricity back to the grid by using vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, the company said.
V2G facilities reduce the need for additional charging stations and ease pressure on power companies, while creating a new source of income and a new business model.
Cheng Uei said it is eyeing cities with high electricity costs for marketing its green energy solutions.
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