Taipei, July 3, 2009 (CENS)--Taiwan-based solar-cell maker Neo Solar Power Corp. (NSP) reportedly plans to soon expand capacity by 50% to meet flooding orders placed by Sharp and Kyocera of Japan, according to the Chinese-language economic daily Economic Daily News (EDN).

NSP refused to comment on such reports, but stressing that corporate operation has been improving and capacity utilization has reached 100%.

Quoting Japanese media reports, EDN said that NSP is in talks with many solar-cell suppliers in Japan over possible contract-manufacturing opportunities by the end of the year. Taiwanese solar-cell makers used to focus on the European market, but turned to Japan after the global financial turmoil affected demand. As the Japanese government is subsidizing solar-power generation equipment, subsequent demand has attracted Taiwanese companies` attention.

Japanese media said that NSP`s shipment goal this year is 200 MW (million watt), but only less-than-10% would be shipped to Japan this year, with the rate to rise next year.

NSP pointed out that it views Japan as a very important market. The firm added that demand from Germany, Greece, Italy has been recovering. Chairman Lin said that the third quarter is expected to be "sunny" for solar-cell business, compared to a cloudy second quarter and rainy first quarter.

The company forecast that the prices of solar cells would gradually climb along with increasing demand.

NSP`s board of directors has approved to raise cash capital by issuing 30 million new shares, with the raised funds to add new capacity by about 150 MW.


(by Quincy Liang)