ProLogium Technology Co (輝能科技) expects the first electric vehicle (EV) equipped with its solid-state lithium battery to hit the road later this year, the company said yesterday in Taoyuan as it launched the world’s first factory for solid-state batteries for commercial use.
The factory is poised to supply up to 26,000 EVs when it reaches full capacity of 2 gigawatt-hours (GWh) a year, ProLogium Technology said.
The company has invested NT$4.2 billion (US$134.07 million) in the facility, which has initial capacity of 0.5GWh a year, or enough batteries for up to 14,000 vehicles, it said.
Photo: CNA
“This is the world’s first [solid-state lithium battery] mass-
production line, mainly targeting electric cars. EV [automakers] are our future partners,” company founder and chief executive officer Vincent Yang (楊思?) told a media briefing.
“Some projects may enter mass production this year,” Yang said, declining to name which automakers would make such a breakthrough.
Mercedes-Benz is one of ProLogium Technology’s shareholders and has been collaborating with the Taiwanese firm to adopt cost-effective and safer lithium batteries in its next-generation vehicles. Vietnamese automaker VinFast also holds an unspecified stake in ProLogium.
There are also plans for the Taoyuan plant to produce solid-state batteries for electric aircraft, other vessels, drones, robots and devices used in the aerospace industry, Yang said.
The new facility would serve as a demonstration factory for global expansion, particularly in Dunkirk, France, where ProLogium plans to build a 5.2 billion euro (US$5.65 billion) factory, the company said.
The French factory, which is to have an annual capacity of 48Gwh, is to enter mass production in 2027, Yang said.
The company aims to become the world’s biggest solid-state lithium battery supplier between 2030 and 2032, when its French factory reaches full capacity, he said.
By that time, ProLogium would have a 35 to 40 percent share of the world’s solid-state lithium battery market, if the penetration of solid-state lithium batteries makes up 7 percent of the global battery market, he said.
ProLogium expects the manufacturing costs of solid-state lithium batteries to drop to match the costs of ternary lithium batteries — about US$100 per kilowatt-hour — in 2032, Yang said.
ProLogium is the world’s sole supplier for extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) tools, a crucial piece of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, as its batteries are able to perform in extreme low-pressure environments, he said.
The Taoyuan factory is expected to serve the company’s Asian customers, while the French site would focus on Europe, the firm said, adding that it would not rule out building a factory in the US to tap that market.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
STILL LOADED: Last year’s richest person, Quanta Computer Inc chairman Barry Lam, dropped to second place despite an 8 percent increase in his wealth to US$12.6 billion Staff writer, with CNA Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and Richard Tsai (蔡明興), the brothers who run Fubon Group (富邦集團), topped the Forbes list of Taiwan’s 50 richest people this year, released on Wednesday in New York. The magazine said that a stronger New Taiwan dollar pushed the combined wealth of Taiwan’s 50 richest people up 13 percent, from US$174 billion to US$197 billion, with 36 of the people on the list seeing their wealth increase. That came as Taiwan’s economy grew 4.6 percent last year, its fastest pace in three years, driven by the strong performance of the semiconductor industry, the magazine said. The Tsai
RSS