Industrial News

LAS VEGAS — The biggest single investment in Robert Bosch's history is taking place now at the supplier's semiconductor business in Dresden, Germany. The $1.1 billion spend to construct its second wafer fabricating plant will enable a doubling of output of Bosch chips starting in 2021. Didn't know the world's largest auto supplier was also in the semiconductor business? Bosch would not be upset to hear that. While the company sells "some" of its output to a few customers around the world, that's not the main purpose of the business unit. Bosch's chip- and sensor-making arm and the massive expansion [...]

DETROIT — On Tuesday, Ford and Volkswagen revealed details of a global alliance. In a joint statement, the automakers said that "Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess and Ford CEO Jim Hackett confirmed that the companies intend to develop commercial vans and medium-sized pickups for global markets beginning as early as 2022." The alliance will be strictly an agreement to collaborate; there will be no merger or "shared ownership," Ford and VW said. According to the companies, "the alliance will drive significant scale and efficiencies and enable both companies to share investments in vehicle architectures that deliver distinct capabilities and technologies." On [...]

Researchers at the George Washington University have taken a major step toward reaching one of the most sought-after goals in physics: room temperature superconductivity. Superconductivity is the lack of electrical resistance and is observed in many materials when they are cooled below a critical temperature. Until now, superconducting materials were thought to have to cool to very low temperatures (minus 180 degrees Celsius or minus 292 degrees Fahrenheit), which limited their application. Since electrical resistance makes a system inefficient, eliminating some of this resistance by utilizing room temperature superconductors would allow for more efficient generation and use of electricity, enhanced energy transmission around [...]

MANILA -- Chinese companies have expressed interest in taking over the Philippines' largest shipyard after the local unit of South Korea's Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction filed for rehabilitation this week. At least two major Chinese shipbuilders have inquired about the operations of Hanjin Philippines, Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said on Friday. He declined to name the companies. A successful bid by a Chinese company to take over the shipyard at Subic Bay, in a property that used to host U.S. forces, would symbolize the country's increasing presence in the South China Sea. Beijing has been keen to enlarge its footprint around [...]

AC Energy, Ayala’s energy platform, and PHINMA today inked a mutually strategic agreement in relation to AC Energy’s investment in PHINMA Energy Corporation (“PHEN”). AC Energy will acquire PHINMA’s combined 51.48% stake in PHEN via a secondary share sale for approximately P3.42bn. This is based on the valuation date of December 31, 2018 and is subject to adjustments. Closing of the Transaction is subject to satisfaction of certain conditions, such as regulatory approvals, including the approval of the Philippine Competition Commission, and compliance with applicable tender offer requirements. AC Energy will also subscribe to approximately 2.632bn PHEN primary shares at [...]

Back in May, it was reported that the Ayala Group will take over the distributorship of the Kia brand of vehicles in the Philippines from current distributor Columbian Autocar Corporation (CAC) by acquiring a 65-percent stake of it, with the remaining 35 percent to remain with CAC founder and Chairman and current Palawan Governor Jose “Pepito” Alvarez. While no formal announcement about the takeover has been made, CARMUDI PHILIPPINES recently learned that it’s a done deal, with CAC practically letting go of almost every employee by October 15. According to our source, only a few holdovers from CAC will remain, [...]

Two years ago, nearly half of SunPower Corporation's (NASDAQ: SPWR) business was in solar power plants where the company did everything from buying land to signing contracts with utilities and even making the solar panels. But the power-plant business has become so competitive that SunPower has decided to shut down most of its operations. Instead, SunPower is returning its focus to high-efficiency solar panels and distributed-solar markets which means solutions for residential and commercial rooftops. The move is dramatic but may be the company's best option long term. How big power plants were for SunPower In 2016, power plants accounted for 54.8% of SunPower's [...]

BEIJING/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) walked away from a $44 billion deal to buy NXP Semiconductors (NXPI.O) after failing to secure Chinese regulatory approval, becoming a high profile victim of a bitter Sino-U.S. trade spat. The world’s biggest smartphone-chip maker and Netherlands-based NXP confirmed in separate statements on Thursday that the deal, which would have been the biggest semiconductor takeover globally, had been terminated. The collapse of the deal is likely to aggravate tensions between Washington and Beijing, damage China’s image as an antitrust regulator and discourage deals that need Chinese approval to go through, sources have said. [...]

A rundown of the locally assembled cars in the Philippines today It's nice to reminiscence about the past. One could say that we had quite the resume with assembling cars, be it completely knocked down or semi-knocked down units. We made muscle cars, luxury sedans and, perhaps most importantly, cars for the common folk. A lot of automakers have abandoned the idea of making cars here in favor of building them in Thailand, or in other neighboring ASEAN countries. However we still have quite a number of cars that we can say have been put together by our workforce. So what's [...]

President Donald Trump on Monday blocked a Singapore-based company's plans to acquire the US chipmaker Qualcomm for $117 billion, citing national security concerns. The order effectively squelches what would have been the largest technology acquisition of all time. US presidents have rarely taken such measures, and the executive order highlights growing economic tensions between the US and the rest of the world as Trump pursues protectionist policies. And it underscores the country's growing fears of cyberwar and espionage from foreign powers. Broadcom, a chipmaker incorporated in Singapore, was looking to take over Qualcomm, its San Diego-based rival. The deal was under scrutiny [...]