The government is ready to remove a decades-old ban on investment for some types of petrochemical plants in China, allowing projects of up to NT$100 billion (US$2.86 billion), a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday.
"The Ministry of Economic Affairs does not oppose Taiwanese enterprises investing in the up-stream of China's petrochemical industry, judging from market proximity considerations," Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Hsin-yi (
But in the report, Lin said the government was concerned about the alleged "spill over effect" -- fears that local petrochemical companies will have to reduce their investment here while they funnel money to the mainland.
However, "an initial agreement on the size of China-bound investment has been reached between the economic ministry and the Petrochemical Industry Association of Taiwan," said Chen Wu-hsiung (
The paper said the Formosa Group (
Indeed Formosa Group's Nanya Plastic Corp (南亞塑膠), the biggest publicly traded petrochemical maker in Taiwan, said it will spend US$270 million to build chemical and electronics factories in China as it bets heavily on rising demand global demand, according to Nanya's spokesman David Tsou.
It would take five years and NT$30 billion for each of the group to build an ethylene plant in China.
The government introduced the "no haste, be patient" (戒急用忍) investment policy in 1996 to prevent democratic Taiwan from becoming overly dependent on its communist rival.
Taipei had already scrapped a policy under which local enterprises were banned from making single investments in China above US$50 million.
But in a major policy shift the Taipei government eased the restrictions dramatically late last year to prepare for WTO entry.
Over the past two months Taiwan has approved 1,814 new items for China-bound investment, officials said.
But the government has yet to give green light to seven items, including the petrochemical ethylene production and 8-inch wafer fabrication projects. Earlier this month, the ministry again delayed a decision on easing restrictions on semiconductor investments, citing national security considerations.
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
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