Taiwanese PV manufacturers, Green Energy Technology (GET) and Gintech Energy are to form a module manufacturing joint venture to be called Gintung Energy Corporation. Any financial details were not disclosed.

GET, primarily a large wafer producer, has a small module manufacturing subsidiary, ASEC, joint owned with electronics manufacturing parent company, Tatung Group.

ASEC’s operations are to be transferred to the newly formed JV with Tatung Group taking a 45% stake in the company and Gintech a 36% stake.

ASEC was said to have had a module capacity of 170MW, which will be expanded to 320MW by the fourth quarter of 2014.

The ASEC brand name will be retained, although the companies said they would develop a new brand-named module with emphasis of high-efficiency and cost competitiveness.

As part of the manufacturing pact, major solar cell producer, Gintech, will transfer multicrystalline wafer production subsidiary, Utech Solar to GET, under an operations agreement.

Utech Solar was established in 2011 as a joint venture between Gintech, CTCI Group and Mitsubishi with an initial 330MW of wafer capacity. Wafer production was said to have currently reached 450MW.

The companies noted that high-efficiency wafers were currently in short supply and that the operational shift of Utech under GET control would lead to further unidentified capacity expansion and lower production costs through joint management of material procurement.

Last year, affiliates of Delta Electronics, Neo Solar Power and Del Solar merged cell and module operations.