Visual Photonics Epitaxy to Acquire Land for New Plant, Budget Up to NT$600 Million

(Central News Agency, reporter Tseng Jen-kai, Taipei 11th) Visual Photonics Epitaxy (VPE), an upstream gallium arsenide (GaAs) epitaxial wafer manufacturer, announced today that to align with its long-term development strategy and operational needs, it plans to acquire land for the construction of a new factory. The company's board of directors resolved today to authorize the chairman to handle all matters related to the land acquisition within a limit not exceeding NT$600 million.

VPE Chairman Chen Jian-liang stated earlier this year that NVIDIA has ignited a boom in optical communications, leading to a flood of customer orders and severe capacity shortages. He noted that shipments of receiver products for 800G switches will double this year, next-generation 1.6T products will also begin shipping, and transmitter-side products will see multi-fold growth.

Chen explained that AI data centers have caused a surge in demand for optical communications, pushing indium phosphide (InP) epitaxial wafers into short supply. Combined with a shortage of upstream InP substrates, InP epitaxial capacity is completely unable to keep up with demand. VPE is fully booked and will accelerate its expansion pace to meet customer needs.

Due to upward revisions in customer demand for high-speed AI transmission, VPE originally planned to add 3 MOCVD (Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition) tools this year but ultimately decided to add 2 more, targeting production start in the fourth quarter of this year. VPE also revealed that it is planning a new production base and is actively searching for land to build factories in preparation for growth beyond next year. (Editor: Yang Kai-hsiang) 1150611