Mayor of Suzhou going to Macronix to attract business

In an effort to attract high-tech investments, Yang Weize (楊衛澤), the mayor of Suzhou, China, is slated tomorrow to visit Macronix International Co (旺宏電子), the nation's largest maker of memory chips for consumer electronics products.

His visit comes a week after the Ministry of Economic Affairs said it would advise the government to ease its ban on semiconductor investments in China by the end of March.

"Yang is here to promote Suzhou's investment environment," said John Liu, who manages NT$1.6 billion (US$46 million) in stocks at Shinkong Investment Trust Co (新光投信). "Macronix needs to invest in China or it will lose competitiveness."

Local chipmakers have urged the government to relax its ban so they can keep pace with foreign rivals and tap into China's US$10 billion semiconductor market.

Taipei has restrained investors in the sector for fear its political foe would obtain Taiwan's most advanced technology and hollow out domestic industry.

Yang also plans to visit United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the second-largest made-to-order chipmaker, during his first trip to Taiwan, a Chinese-language newspaper reported last week.

UMC Vice Chairman John Hsuan (宣明智) visited Suzhou in January.

Macronix has yet to decide whether to invest in China, Macronix Chairman Hu Ding-hua (胡定華) said. "We'll respond in a responsible way after the government decides on its policy. Does a company want to support and serve its customers? The answer's obvious," he said.