News

7 December 2009

 

Notebook PC firm Inventec buys 4.9% stake in LED maker Huga

In an effort to diversify its business into LEDs, Taiwan-based Inventec Corp (the world’s fourth-largest notebook PC maker) has spent NT$540m (US$16.61m) to acquire a 4.9% stake in Taiwanese LED maker Huga Optotech Inc, according to the Taiwan Economic News.

To raise its capitalization from the existing NT$2.478bn (US$76.2m) to NT$3.6bn (US$110.7m), Huga has issued 18 million new shares, valued at NT$540m for capital increment, all of which have been procured by Inventec.

Everlight Electronics Co Ltd (Taiwan’s largest LED packaging company) is also one of Huga’s shareholders, who spent NT$500m on convertible bonds issued by Huga.

Due to optimistic projections about the market in 2010 for LED backlights — especially those used for LED-backlit LCD (liquid crystal display) TVs — Huga has actively increased capital by issuing new shares and bought new production equipment for making blue and green LEDs. As it prepares to add 39 new metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) equipment to its production lines, the firm plans to expand LED chip manufacturing capacity to 2 billion units a month, says the Taiwan Economic News.

Huga has also established a joint venture with South Korea’s Seoul Semiconductor (the world’s 4th largest LED packaging firm) as part of its efforts to penetrate the Korean market for LED chips, considering that Korea-based Samsung and LG are the world's top two LED-backlit LCD TV brands. The joint-venture strategy allows Huga to avoid patent infringements and secure long-term cooperation with Seoul Semiconductor, it is said.

See related items:

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