The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said yesterday that it had approved applications by three China-based Taiwanese companies to invest NT$8.5 billion (US$291.8 million) in Taiwan, which could create 730 jobs.
Industrial Development Bureau Deputy Director-General Lien Ching-chang (連錦漳) said by telephone the three firms have all been investing overseas for more than two years and hold leading positions in the global market.
However, the bureau declined to disclose the companies’ names, nor did it specify which industry they were involved in.
Encouraged by government investment incentives, a total of eight China-based Taiwanese businesses have received investment approval from the ministry since last month.
The ministry gave the green light to five companies last month, including metal casing supplier Catcher Technology Co (可成), handset lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光), forklift truck manufacturer Tailife Co (台勵福) and luggage maker Eminent Luggage Corp (萬國通路), citing their leading positions in the global supply chain and that their products are high value-added.
Chip packager and tester Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體) is another company that has reportedly won regulatory approval to invest more than NT$50 billion over the next three years to build a high-end plant in Greater Kaohsiung’s Nanzih District (楠梓), according to people familiar with the matter.
The bureau estimated total investment by the eight companies could amount to NT$110 billion with more than 15,000 jobs likely to be created.
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],”
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
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