Solar module and cell maker United Renewable Energy Co (URE, 聯合再生) plans to lay off more than 100 workers and retire outdated manufacturing equipment in an effort to improve operational efficiency.
The 10 percent job cuts come amid shrinking domestic demand for passivated-emitter-and-rear cells (PERC), the company said yesterday. It has a total of 1,095 employees.
The company plans to retire the production lines for less-advanced solar cells in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南) and focus on new-generation TOPCon solar wafers.
Photo: Chang Hui-wen, Taipei Times
The PERC capacity made up about half of the company’s total capacity of 830 megawatts in Taiwan. The other half is for TOPCon solar wafers, for which the company started ramping up volume production in the fourth quarter last year, it said.
“We have submitted the plan to related authorities with an aim to strengthen the company’s operations,” URE deputy spokesperson Kris Chen (陳怡真) said by telephone.
URE shut down its solar cell factory in Thailand in the second half of last year after the US announced it was imposing anti-dumping tariffs on solar imports from four Southeast Asian nations, including Thailand.
The company reported a net loss of NT$179.06 million (US$5.98 million) in the first quarter of this year, compared with a loss of NT$283.12 million during the same period last year. It has been posting losses since the first quarter of 2023.
First-quarter revenue sank about 34 percent year-on-year to NT$978.86 million, attributable to sagging demand in Taiwan, which made up 56 percent of the company’s total revenue.
“URE aims to transform itself into an energy solution provider beyond a supplier of solar products and an operator of solar engineering, procurement and construction [EPC]. We will also provide solar power plant maintenance services and energy storage,” URE chief financial officer Pan Lay-lay (潘蕾蕾) told investors last week.
The company expects two new EPC projects to commence later this year — a fisheries solar project in Tainan and a ground-mount solar project in Taichung, Pan said.
The installed solar capacity totaling 20 megawatts would generate about NT$2 billion in revenue, she said.
Solar EPC project operators usually receive stable and predictable income based on 20-year power purchase agreements as they are guaranteed to sell the generated electricity at a fixed price.
URE plans to launch its first solar energy storage and management solutions for enterprises to address the widening gap between peak and off-peak electricity rates.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce