Semiconductor manufacturer Himax Technolgies shares are now leaping in the pre-market trading due to news release that Google took a 6.3 percent investment with Himax Display (HDI).
Himax Display is part of a Taiwanese company that also make liquid crystal on silicon or LCOS modules and chips. The LCOS products are used in Google Glass and several other products. Other investors that are tied up with HDI are Intel, Khosla Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins.
Google’s investment is a signal that Glass’ production is indeed increasing; the company stated that the funds will be used for upgrading production, expanding capacity, and enhancing the capability of production.
Evaluations on how much the actual amount of the stake is still unclear. Himax chief financial officer Jackie Chang explains that the company will not release information to the public as of now. She mentioned in an early email to TechCrunch that they were not disclosing information, and the announcement they made are only limited to information that are required by SEC.
She further added that they were happy to have come into an agreement with Google.
Himax Technologies trades on NASDAQ with a market ceiling of $876.7 million. Last Friday, shares closed at $5.17, which is down by 3.36 percent; however, they are trading as much as 40 percent higher than before the market opened again.
Recent pressure to improve their production facilities are being placed on Himax, which has been around since 2004, when Google Glass announced their increasing interest in investing with the company.
Google is now making its move in placing itself as a common-owner tech company that has gone beyond software and cloud-based services, as a result of the investments with HDI. Himax announced that the 6.3 percent wager also included a choice to make additional investments in more valued shares next year. Once fully operational, Google can take as much as 14.8 percent of HDI’s shares.
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