Word: silicones
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International investors can be forgiven for never having heard of Motech, E-Ton or Sino-American Silicon. Compared with better-known Taiwan-based chip giants such as Taiwan Semiconductor and United Microelectronics, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, these three Taiwanese semiconductor plays have flown under most people's radar...
...Until now. Continuing high oil prices and growing concern over sustainable energy have made them the hottest stocks in the tech-heavy Taiwan Stock Exchange. Motech and E-Ton Solar make photovoltaic (PV) semiconductors, better known as solar cells. Sino-American is in the business of supplying them with silicon wafers, which are the basic PV building blocks. And shares of all three have delivered stellar gains thanks to the world's growing appetite for solar power as a hedge against the high price of crude...
...already established by Motech, which rose 130% on Taiwan's small-cap bourse last year, outstripping other pure-play solar manufacturers such as Germany's SolarWorld (up 61% last year). Sino-American was another spectacular winner: its share price trebled last year on the back of a shortage in silicon wafers...
...could pose a danger to investors. Even though solar power manufacturers are relatively few in number, additional factory output coming online this year in Taiwan alone will outstrip the growth in demand anticipated from California's initiative. In addition, new players entering the market and competing for already scarce silicon wafers will likely drive up production costs, writes CLSA analyst Timothy Chen, who recommends investors sell Motech because it's overpriced...
Unlike many competitors in Silicon Valley, Google tends to let engineers run the show. The company is almost allergic to marketing. (Name another $100 billion company that doesn't run TV ads.) Innovation tends to bubble up from those bright young minds. The challenge is keeping them all happy. The free food and laundry and the heavily subsidized massages and haircuts all help, but there also has to be enough creative work to go around. Google came up with a formula to help ensure this. Every employee is meant to divide his or her time in three parts: 70% devoted...