Sino-American Silicon Products (SAS, 中美晶) said it is under mounting pressure to sustain its revenue growth during the second half of this year as an industrywide decline in average selling prices (ASP) is spreading to the solar cell and module segments.
The Hsinchu-based manufacturer of solar cells and modules expects falling ASPs to stall revenue growth in the third and fourth quarters, and hit its full-year revenue figure. Revenue last year soared 18.93 percent to an all-time high of NT$81.87 billion (US$2.65 billion), rising for a third straight year.
Revenue last month dipped for the first time in more than two-and-a-half years to NT$6.69 billion, falling 3.26 percent from a year earlier. In the first five months of this year, revenue still grew 7.07 percent year-on-year to NT$34.03 billion.
Photo courtesy of Sino-American Silicon Products Inc
SAS said it saw higher volatility in its solar cell business, as the prices of polysilicon and wafers are sinking rapidly and the price declines appear to be spreading to solar cells and modules, company chairperson Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) told reporters in Hsinchu on Tuesday.
“As the ASP has fallen significantly compared with last year, revenue would be severely affected, even if we ship the same amount of solar cells as we did last year,” Hsu said.
The price of polysilicon has halved from the same level last year, heaping pressure on solar products such as cells and modules, Hsu said.
SAS is also facing price competition from solar cell imports from developing countries such as Vietnam, Hsu said.
The company said it is an uphill battle to improve its solar cell costs, given its small production scale.
SAS manufactures solar cells in Taiwan and produces solar modules in Germany.
To enhance its technological capability, SAS said it aims to launch high-efficiency N Topcon products early next year, offering samples for customers.
N Topcon technology offers advantages such as a low degradation rate, low temperature coefficient and high conversion efficiency of up to 25 percent, SAS said.
Large M10 N-Type Topcon cells would be SAS’ new iconic product.
Local competitor Motech Industries Inc (茂迪) also said on Monday that it has made major progress in developing N-Type Topcon solar cells and that it expects to start mass production in the first quarter of next year.
In Germany, SAS plans to add early next year one new solar module production line with an annual installed capacity of 400 megawatts to meet robust demand, Hsu said.
SAS would not rule out deploying another 400-megawatt solar module product line next year, if demand continues to trend up, she said.
SAS attributes the healthy demand to German consumers’ willingness to pay a premium for solar products made in Germany.
Solar module manufacturing costs in Germany are much higher than in Taiwan and competition is fierce as the European nation opens to solar imports from around the world, including China, Hsu said.
EXTRATERRITORIAL REACH: China extended its legal jurisdiction to ban some dual-use goods of Chinese origin from being sold to the US, even by third countries Beijing has set out to extend its domestic laws across international borders with a ban on selling some goods to the US that applies to companies both inside and outside China. The new export control rules are China’s first attempt to replicate the extraterritorial reach of US and European sanctions by covering Chinese products or goods with Chinese parts in them. In an announcement this week, China declared it is banning the sale of dual-use items to the US military and also the export to the US of materials such as gallium and germanium. Companies and people overseas would be subject to
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that Intel Corp would find itself in the same predicament as it did four years ago if its board does not come up with a core business strategy. Chang made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about the ailing US chipmaker, once an archrival of TSMC, during a news conference in Taipei for the launch of the second volume of his autobiography. Intel unexpectedly announced the immediate retirement of former chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger last week, ending his nearly four-year tenure and ending his attempts to revive the
WORLD DOMINATION: TSMC’s lead over second-placed Samsung has grown as the latter faces increased Chinese competition and the end of clients’ product life cycles Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the No. 1 title in the global pure-play wafer foundry business in the third quarter of this year, seeing its market share growing to 64.9 percent to leave South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, the No. 2 supplier, further behind, Taipei-based TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. TSMC posted US$23.53 billion in sales in the July-September period, up 13.0 percent from a quarter earlier, which boosted its market share to 64.9 percent, up from 62.3 percent in the second quarter, the report issued on Monday last week showed. TSMC benefited from the debut of flagship
TENSE TIMES: Formosa Plastics sees uncertainty surrounding the incoming Trump administration in the US, geopolitical tensions and China’s faltering economy Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), Taiwan’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday posted overall revenue of NT$118.61 billion (US$3.66 billion) for last month, marking a 7.2 percent rise from October, but a 2.5 percent fall from one year earlier. The group has mixed views about its business outlook for the current quarter and beyond, as uncertainty builds over the US power transition and geopolitical tensions. Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠), a vertically integrated supplier of plastic resins and petrochemicals, reported a monthly uptick of 15.3 percent in its revenue to NT$18.15 billion, as Typhoon Kong-rey postponed partial shipments slated for October and last month, it said. The
RSS