Major chip resistor makers expanding mainland output

Taipei, March 4, 2003 (CENS)--While two main local producers of chip resistors are expanding their production capacities in mainland China, Yageo Corp. will move part of its domestic production lines for chip resistors to its factory in Suzhou of Jiangsu Province.

The two companies are Ralec Electronic Corp. and TA-I Technology Co., Ltd. The three companies are listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and Yageo is the world's largest manufacturer of chip resistors.

Yageo will shift some of the production lines for chip resistors at its factory in Koahsiung City, southern Taiwan, to its Suzhou factory in mainland China in the second half of this year. The Suzhou factory can reach maximum monthly production capacity of 10 billion chip resistors, the company indicated.

Ralec has a factory in Shenzhen of Guangdong Province and inaugurated a new one in Kunshan of Jiangsu Province, mainland China, in December last year. The company will increase the Kunshan factory's monthly production to 1 billion chip resistors this month. By then the company's total monthly production capacity in Taiwan and mainland will rise from 3.9 billion originally to 4.6 billion chip resistors.

Ralec rang up revenue of NT$103 million in January this year, growing by 72.64% from the NT$59.66 million posted in January last year and by 12.9% from December 2002. The company's revenue for January was the highest monthly level since February 2001.

TA-I Technology stared construction of a factory of chip resistors beside its existing factory in Suzhou at the end of last year, with inauguration slated for late this year. The new factory is intended to produce chip resistors of large-use specifications, primarily 0603 and 0805 used in information technology goods. The initial production capacity will be at least 1 billion chip resistors a month.