Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), the nation's biggest diversified industrial company, said it is in talks with the Chinese government for a refinery joint venture with a state-owned Chinese oil producer.
The group could cooperate with Beijing on refining and chemicals projects, chief executive officer William Wong (
Formosa Plastics will need to overcome political obstacles to complete projects that will enable it to supply Taiwanese plastics makers that have factories in China.
Companies also want to tap demand in China, the only major market where there is a shortage of petrochemicals, Formosa Plastics Corp (
"We are renewing our efforts to get the Taiwan government to lift its ban" on building ethylene plants in China, Lee told reporters yesterday in Mailiao, where the group has its refinery. "We've been talking with the government for too long."
Taiwan bars the nation's businesses -- which have a total of US$150 billion invested in China -- from building ethylene plants in China on grounds that they may siphon away funds and hurt Taiwanese petrochemical makers.
Taipei restricts Chinese investment because of concern Chinese companies may grab business or gain advanced technology.
Formosa Plastics' chemical project in Ningbo, including a 1.2 million-tonne-a-year ethylene plant, could cost NT$150 billion (US$4.5 billion), Lee said. That estimate didn't include an oil refinery.
Approximately 15 years ago, Formosa Plastics founder Wang Yung-ching (王永慶) proposed to build a naphtha cracker -- a plant that uses naphtha, distilled from petroleum, to make ethylene -- in China.
Ethylene is the basic raw material for plastics and chemical fibers.
Formosa Plastics has factories in China that produce PVC, pipes and fabrics. It lacks a plant making ethylene, the chief building block for these products. The mainland is the biggest overseas market for Taiwan and Formosa Plastics.
Wong said yesterday that he had visited China last week, holding talks with officials who handle Taiwanese affairs at the State Council.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS