The long wait to invest in China may soon be over for Taiwanese chipmakers, as Premier Yu Shyi-kun appears set to finalize the policy by Friday and send it off to the Legislature for final approval, sources said yesterday.
"The policy has already been sent to the Premier's office and he will hold a meeting on Friday to determine whether or not it will meet approval from all sides," a source close to the situation said.
The question of allowing Taiwanese chipmakers to invest in China raised so much emotion earlier this year that thousands took to the streets in protest and calls were made for the Vice Premier Lin Hsin-yi (
Taiwan Semiconductor Manu-facturing Co (TSMC,
Until the government rules are set, chipmkers cannot make the leap, costing them valuable time.
"We can't even accept their applications to invest in China until the management policy is in place ... the Taiwan Solidarity Union has been very insistent on this point," said Su Jeong-feng (
The premier promised to send the policy proposal to the legislature by May 10, but politicians grappled on a host of issues, chiefly, "ensuring that sensitive technologies will be protected and managing the movement of high-tech workers across the Strait," said James Chou (
Companies have already filed complaints against former workers believed to have passed sensitive technology on to new competitors in China.
TSMC's chairman said over 400 Taiwanese engineers have signed on with Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co (SMIC,
A former TSMC employee was charged with industrial espionage.
The Taiwan Solidarity Union wants the government to take action against SMIC and Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (宏力半導體) for jumping the gun on investment in China. Both companies are partially backed by Taiwanese capital and know-how.
SMIC CEO Richard Chang (
So far, no action has been taken against either company.
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