Recent news from the Chinese-language newspapers.
Nichia may buy shares of Taiwan's Opto Tech
Opto Tech will hold a shareholder's meeting on Jun 10 and reelect its board of directors and supervisors. Opto Tech said it is in contact with three Japanese companies, and sources inside the company said that Nichia will likely become a shareholder of Opto Tech. [EDN, May 23]
CMO may produce TFT LCD polarizers
CMO is developing polarizers at one of the CMO group’s plants and may produce its own TFT LCD polarizers in the future. CMO plans to increase its overall rate of self-produced materials used in panel production to 85%. [Commercial Times, May 23]
Sources: Taiwan-based TPV technology begins to ship LCD TVs
TPV technology, a Taiwan-based monitor maker, has started to ship LCD TVs this year with monthly capacity at its Fujian plant, Fujian Province (China), set to reach 30,000 units. The company is also aiming for its Fujian plant to ship 300,000-400,000 units by year-end, according to sources. [Economic Daily, May 23]
Coretronic to roll out the latest DLP projector
Coretronic recently introduced its DV-10 DLP projector with a DVD player priced at US$1,499. The company sold 400,000 DLP projectors in 2004, accounting for 25% of the global market. The company aims to ship 800,000 DLPs this year. [Commercial Times, May 23]
Backlight module maker Helix lays off staff on bad first quarter, major shareholder takes over
Pressured by a loss of NT$208 million in the first quarter, Helix announced it would lay off a quarter of its staff and that shareholder Ho Tung Chemical would raise its stake in Helix by 31 percentage points to 51%. The chairman of Ho Tung and Sintek Photronic will act as the new CEO of Helix. [DigiTimes]
UMC to list Hejian stake as company asset upon government approval
UMC chairman said the 15% stake that the China-based foundry Hejian agreed to exchange for development aid, would be listed as a UMC asset after gaining local government approval. [DigiTimes]
Wistron lands tablet PC order from Lenovo-IBM, say sources
Sources indicate that Wistron will start volume shipments of a 12-inch tablet PC model to Lenovo-IBM in the third quarter. Industry players hinted that Lenovo will roll out the tablet PC under IBM's Thinkpad brand name. Wistron declined to comment. [EDN, May 23]
Mainstream NOR flash prices to drop 10% further in 2Q
Hindered by slowing down handset shipments and the ramping output from leading players such as Intel, mainstream 64MB NOR flash memory prices may drop further by over 10% in the second quarter, according to market sources. [Commercial Times, May 23]
Handset case maker Greenpoint to raise capital by NT$1.8 billion
Greenpoint will raise capital via private placement and the company claims the possibility of Foxconn being a potential buyer is limited. Greenpoint will also expand plants in China and Malaysia. [EDN, May 23]
Leading China-based home appliance makers to form joint procurement unit
Sources hint that TCL, Changhong and Skyworth will form a joint procurement unit for TFT LCD related product sourcing and related price negotiation. Local panel makers commented that the program would have a positive impact on pricing. [Commercial Times, May 23]
ITRI Energy & Resources Laboratories to continue development of LED-based road sign systems
The research center indicated that power-saving LED-based road sign systems had helped save electricity and the laboratory expects LED-based traffic light systems’ production value will grow to NT$20 billion by 2010. [DigiTimes]
LED to penetrate 15- and 17-inch monitor-use backlighting market in 2006
LED backlighting is expected to start entering the 15- and 17-inch backlight market for LCD monitors in 2006, as the price gap between 15-inch monitor-use LEDs and CCFL shrinks to 30%. Quotes for 17-inch monitor-use CCFL backlighting may drop to less than US$1, down from US$1.5 presently and market sources predict that CCFL makers will look to create partnerships with LED makers in the future. [DigiTimes]
Shortage of various Intel chipsets persist, say mobo makers
The supply of several of Intel’s chipsets including the 865, 845 and 910GL entry-level series and the mainstream 915 as well as the Xscale CPUs for PDAs, remains tight, motherboard makers indicated. [DigiTimes]
Article edited by John McClure
