Kaohsiung Opto-Electronics Inc (KOE, 高雄晶傑達光電), a subsidiary of contract electronics maker Wistron Corp (緯創), yesterday broke ground for its new manufacturing and research and development (R&D) facilities in Kaohsiung’s Cianjhen Technology Industrial Park (前鎮科技產業園區).
The company’s initial investment in the facilities is estimated to be more than NT$10 billion (US$325.98 million), the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement.
The company plans to build a “smart, innovative” plant with nine floors above ground and two below, the ministry said.
Photo: Ge You-hao, Taipei Times
KOE plans to establish high-end, fully automated production lines at the plant that would be mainly engaged in the manufacturing of LCD panel modules for vehicles, and industrial control and medical applications, the ministry said.
The project is forecast to create 4,500 jobs upon its completion in 2025, it added.
Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said at the groundbreaking ceremony that KOE aims to use Cianjhen Technology Industrial Park as a key production base for its automotive and industrial control panel manufacturing.
By integrating the park’s resources with nearby Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) and Nanzih Technology Industrial Park (楠梓科技產業園區), along with the support of Wistron’s R&D facilities in Kaohsiung, the technology industry in southern Taiwan is expected to develop further, driving regional development, industrial transformation and local employment, Wang said.
Established in 1967, KOE was known as Kaohsiung Hitachi Electronics Co (高雄日立電子) before its name changed in 2012 as a subsidiary of Japan Display Inc. It was acquired by Wistron in October 2021.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fell below the US$600 billion mark at the end of last month, with the central bank reporting a total of US$596.89 billion — a decline of US$8.6 billion from February — ending a three-month streak of increases. The central bank attributed the drop to a combination of factors such as outflows by foreign institutional investors, currency fluctuations and its own market interventions. “The large-scale outflows disrupted the balance of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market, prompting the central bank to intervene repeatedly by selling US dollars to stabilize the local currency,” Department of Foreign
Intel Corp is joining Elon Musk’s long-shot effort to develop semiconductors for Tesla Inc, Space Exploration Technologies Corp and xAI, marking a surprising twist in the chipmaker’s comeback bid. Intel would help the Terafab project “refactor” the technology in a chip factory, the company said on Tuesday in a post on X, Musk’s social media platform. That is a stage in the development process that typically helps make chips more powerful or reliable. The chipmaker’s shares jumped 4.2 percent to US$52.91 in New York trading on Tuesday. The Terafab project is a grand plan by Musk to eventually manufacture his own chips for
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday said it plans to resume operations at two coal-fired power generators for three months to boost security of electricity supply as liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply risks are running high due to the Middle East conflict. The two coal-fired power generators are at Mailiao Power Plant in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮). The plant, operated by Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), supplied electricity to Taipower’s power grid until the end of last year. Taipower’s decision came about one month after Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) on March 10 said that the nation had no imminent
Some robotaxi passengers were left stranded in the middle of fast-moving traffic in a major Chinese city after their driverless vehicles stopped running, according to police and media reports on Wednesday. A preliminary investigation indicates more than 100 robotaxis came to a halt because of a “system malfunction,” police in the city of Wuhan said in a statement, without elaborating. No injuries were reported. One passenger told Chinese media that their robotaxi stopped after turning a corner. An instruction on a screen read: “Driving system malfunction. Staff are expected to arrive in 5 minutes.” After no one showed up, the passenger pushed
RSS