Covestro Taiwan Ltd (台灣科思創) yesterday launched a new research and development center that is to specialize in resin synthesis and fiberoptic coating after its parent company, Covestro AG, acquired a resins business from Royal DSM, it said.
The German company in September 2020 agreed to buy the resins and functional materials business from Royal DSM for about 1.61 billion euros (US$1.69 billion), corporate data showed.
The Dutch company’s local units, such as Covestro Resins (ROA) Ltd (帝昇) and Covestro Resins (Taiwan) Ltd (新力美), are next month to be integrated into Covestro Taiwan Ltd, with their employees continuing resins development, Covestro Taiwan said.
Photo courtesy of Covestro Taiwan Ltd
The Covestro Global Energy Curing Innovation Center was established at National Central University (NCU) in Taoyuan as part of its collaboration with local universities, the company said.
The 1,322m2 facility marks the first global research center located on a Taiwanese university campus and managed by a foreign company, it said.
Aiming to find new solutions to make its ultraviolet (UV)-cured resin synthesis process more sustainable, the company asked eight NCU professors, along with about 20 students, to work on four projects, and expects results by the end of next year, research center head Steve Shih (石健學) told the Taipei Times in an interview.
“Tin is a key production component, and we have managed to minimize tin residues to lower than one part per million, but in the event something goes wrong, we need another material with comparable performance that can substitute for tin,” Shih said, citing an example of one of the center’s projects.
The company is also attempting to seek appropriate bio-based materials, such as plant matter, to replace fossil-based material, as 25 percent of its products are to be made from bio-based materials by 2030, Shih said.
Covestro Taiwan is also working with National Taiwan University and National Chung Hsing University on cutting-edge research on resin development, Shih added.
UV-curable resin is used in a variety of coating applications for fiber optic cables, solar panels, electronic materials, ink printing, floors, premium wood items and papers, Covestro Resins Ltd general manager Troy Shao (邵仲益) told the Taipei Times.
It can also be used inside computing technology given its ability to refract light, Shao said.
A leading Taiwanese semiconductor company has utilized Covestro Taiwan’s technology to make its manufacturing process more sustainable and efficient, he said.
Covestro Taiwan is optimistic that its technology will be applied in Taiwanese 5G networks and to help install thinner glass fibers, he added.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
PRECEDENTED TIMES: In news that surely does not shock, AI and tech exports drove a banner for exports last year as Taiwan’s economic growth experienced a flood tide Taiwan’s exports delivered a blockbuster finish to last year with last month’s shipments rising at the second-highest pace on record as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and advanced computing remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Exports surged 43.4 percent from a year earlier to US$62.48 billion last month, extending growth to 26 consecutive months. Imports climbed 14.9 percent to US$43.04 billion, the second-highest monthly level historically, resulting in a trade surplus of US$19.43 billion — more than double that of the year before. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) described the performance as “surprisingly outstanding,” forecasting export growth
RSS