Taiwan is to extend work permits for Chinese high-tech professionals by two years in an effort to lure talent from China, officials said yesterday.
"Work permits for Chinese professionals in high-tech industries will be lengthened to a maximum of five years from the current three years," an economic ministry official said.
"It is a friendly gesture towards China in hopes to entice more talents from the mainland to help make Taiwan a high-tech research and development center."
The extension, one of many ideas put forward by the Economic Development Advisory Conference (經發會), will apply to Chinese professionals in 18 industries including telecommunications, information technology, aviation, semi-conductors and biotechnology, the official added. The new permits will be available from October.
"The amendment of the new regulation is required to be completed by the end of September, so it is expected to go into effect from October once the Cabinet gives its final approval," a Bureau of Immigration spokesman said.
Other proposals put forward by the national economic conference include easing investment rules and forming direct postal and shipping links with China.
The government-established economic panel, which concluded on Aug. 26, decided to scrap a blanket ban on investment projects on the mainland valued at more than US$50 million in favor of a case-by-case evaluation.
The "no haste, be patient" policy banned single investments worth more than US$50 million and outlawed any investments in infrastructure and advanced technology, although such investments are often made through foreign subsidiaries of Taiwan companies.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy