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Benefiting from government support, Taiwanese and Chinese companies are leading the pack in Asia, according to a report by a Japanese securities house.

The report noted that the newcomers had gained a fast-growing share of the global market with Japanese market leaders suffering most, seeing their share falling from 50 per cent since 2004.

In Taiwan, LCD and semiconductor makers have also entered the solar-cell market, with strong government support, and by the end of this year they are expected to have a world-class production capacity comparable to those in China and Japan.

However, there have been shortages of silicon materials, resulting in bottlenecks in the manufacturing process for several major firms.

In China, the sector has also been expanding rapidly, making the country the world's largest maker of solar cells.

By 2010, China aims to boost the amount of power generated by solar-cell systems to 300,000 kilowatts, but Chinese firms seem better prepared to focus on exporting solar cells at this stage.

Meanwhile, Singapore, which aspires to be a clean energy centre, has also attracted several leading European companies to set up operations there.

As for Thailand, the industry is still in its infancy, even though the Institute of Solar Energy Technology Development (ISET) has successfully boosted the efficiency of locally-made solar cells by 15.8 per cent.

According to Dr Chachanat Thebtaranonth of the National Science and Technology Develop-ment Agency (NSTDA), one of the biggest challenges is to commercialise this home-grown technology.

In an earlier interview, Porponth Sichanugrist, also of NSTDA, said ISET was in talks with a German company with the objective of marketing the know-how to other Asian countries, such as China and Taiwan.

"Our technology can compete in Asian markets as it is designed for the region's climate, and its performance meets international standards," said Porponth, a scientist who helped develop the technology.

Called a hybrid system, the Thai solar technology is of the thin-film type, a combination of two other types of technology - thin silicon film and amorphous silicon. "Solar-cell products sold today, including those in Thailand, are mostly the thick-film type, which is an old technology. Ours is a new technology, which is being researched worldwide and will be ready for commercial use very soon," he said.

At present, the output efficiency of solar-cell products sold in world markets is only 7 to 10 per cent.

"Due to its thin-film characteristic, the cost of the raw material is lower. Our product is also usable at a wide range of temperatures - from 25 to 60 degrees Celsius, which is suitable for the Asian climate," he said.