Delta to mass produce solar batteries next July

Taipei, Nov. 1, 2004 (CENS)--To meet the global energy conservation trend, Delta Electronics Inc., a leading Taiwanese maker of switching power supplies, transformers, and stepping motors, has recently ventured into the solar battery industry and will kick off its first production line in July of 2005.

If everything goes smoothly, the company plans to install three to four more such lines within two years.

Seeing Delta's potential development, foreign institutional investors have increased their purchase of Delta's shares in the local bourse, thus boosting their stake in the firm to 57%, the highest of its kind among the listed electronics firms on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

Hai Ying-chun, vice chairman of the company, said that Delta has long laid emphasis on the energy-saving function of its products to meet the increasing market demand for "green" products. The company will step up developing new energy-saving items to replace those heavy-energy-consumption ones.

Hai pointed out that as traditional energy resources are depleting significant, finding substitute energy is badly needed to sustain industrial development. There is only one Taiwanese maker of solar batteries for the moment, and it is time for Delta to get involved in the line now.

Hai disclosed that Delta's newly reinvested high-tech firm would take care of the production of the projected solar batteries. The new firm will soon to move into the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park after its application is approved sometime this month. To turn out high-end solar batteries, the company is planning to import state-of-the-art machines from Germany and purchase related chips from Japan.

The company's first production line is slated for official run next July. It is estimated that each production line of solar batteries would cost around NT$300 million (US$8.82 million at US$1 = NT$34).

Delta's sales of alternative current (AC) motor drives have grown rapidly over the past few years, as the gears can save power consumption by 20%-30%. More and more enterprises have purchased such motor drives to cut their energy consumption.

Hai indicated some 70% of global electricity is used for running various motors, and mainland China is a huge consumer of electricity. To save energy, many enterprises in the mainland intend to upgrade their facilities, and Delta's energy-saving AC motor drives are well received in the market there.

In the third quarter of this year, Delta raked in NT$1.7 billion (US$50 million) in after-tax earnings, up 25% from the second quarter. In the first nine months, the company's revenue posted an annual growth of 7% to reach NT$39.3 billion (US$1.16 billion), and its after-tax earnings reached NT$4.92 billion (US$144.79 million) or NT$3.11 (US$0.09) per share.