The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday signed letters of intent with eight overseas-based Taiwanese firms, which pledged to invest NT$31.85 billion (US$1.1 billion) in Taiwan.
With these investments, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said the ministry was set to achieve its goal of attracting NT$45 billion in investment from outbound Taiwanese firms this year.
As of the end of last month, overseas Taiwanese firms — homegrown firms that focus primarily on markets other than Taiwan — had invested about NT$39.3 billion nationwide, he said.
Shih made the remarks at an overseas Taiwanese enterprises’ investment forum organized by the ministry.
The eight companies that signed the letters of intent included specialty chemicals maker Swancor Industrial Co (上緯企業), tea maker Ten Fu Group (天福集團), pharmaceutical firm TWi Pharmaceuticals Inc (安成國際藥業) and water pipe manufacturer Kuo Toong International Co (國統國際).
The others were machinery tool maker Fair Friend Enterprise Group (友嘉實業) and shoemaker Fulgent Sun Group (鈺齊國際), among others.
Swancor said it would apply its know-how in producing components for wind generators to its plans to build offshore wind generators near Miaoli County that would cost NT$20 billion.
The investment will span six years and it aims to complete wind generators that can produce up to 6 megawatts by 2015.
The chemicals maker also has plans to recruit 150 to 200 personnel for its upcoming research and development hub to be located in Greater Taichung. The facility will focus on the development of LED, among other things.
Ten Fu Group, the Chinese brainchild of Taiwan’s Ten Ren Group (天仁集團), is going to establish a tea museum in Taiwan. It also intends to make a foray into the tourism industry by opening a hotel in the near term.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last