Solar cell and module manufacturer Motech Industries Inc (茂迪) yesterday said it has high order visibility through the third quarter of this year, thanks to robust demand for its new, more efficient TOPCon solar modules.
The Tainan-based company has improved the yield rate of its TOPCon production lines to 96 percent, from 70 to 75 percent last year, when it started ramping up production, it said.
“With a better yield rate, we have significantly lowered the manufacturing cost to match the cost of solar modules made on passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) technology, which is one generation older than TOPCon,” Motech president Fred Yeh (葉正賢) told reporters in Taipei.
Photo courtesy of the Kinmen County Government
By the end of this year, the cost of producing a TOPCon module could even drop to below the cost of making a PERC module, Yeh said.
TOPCon modules have a conversion efficiency rate of more than 23.5 percent, exceeding the 22.9 percent delivered by PERC modules, Yeh said.
Motech aims to boost the conversion efficiency rate of TOPCon modules to 24.5 percent from 24 percent by the end of this year, he said.
To cope with rising market demand, Motech plans to upgrade all of its solar module capacity to TOPCon modules in the first half of next year, which is six months to one year ahead of its original schedule, Yeh said.
By that time, Motech would have a TOPCon module capacity of 420 to 450 megawatts per year, he said.
TOPCon solar modules account for 40 percent of the company’s total capacity, while PERC modules make up the remaining 60 percent, he said.
Motech expects demand to grow from overseas markets, benefiting from a “non-China” as well trend as US-China trade disputes persist, Yeh said.
The company has received requests from potential customers asking to supply solar cells and modules that are made outside of China. Some requested solar products that did not use raw materials from China’s Xinjiang region, he said.
Motech has received requests from Japanese companies to send samples, which would likely pave the way for shipments next year, he said.
Motech more than doubled its net profit to NT$267.88 million (US$8.83 million) last year from NT$106.74 million a year earlier. Earnings per share increased to NT$0.73 last year from NT$0.3 a year earlier. Gross margin increased to 12.95 percent last year from 9.4 percent a year earlier.
The board of directors approved a cash dividend distribution of NT$0.45 per share, representing a payout ratio of 61.64 percent. The distribution plan is subject to shareholders’ approval during the company’s general meeting on June 19.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
Hong Kong authorities ramped up sales of the local dollar as the greenback’s slide threatened the foreign-exchange peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) sold a record HK$60.5 billion (US$7.8 billion) of the city’s currency, according to an alert sent on its Bloomberg page yesterday in Asia, after it tested the upper end of its trading band. That added to the HK$56.1 billion of sales versus the greenback since Friday. The rapid intervention signals efforts from the city’s authorities to limit the local currency’s moves within its HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 per US dollar trading band. Heavy sales of the local dollar by
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
RSS