The Investment Commission yesterday said it has received Tsinghua Unigroup’s investment application to acquire a 25 percent stake in Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技), but added it would not begin to review it yet.
“The commission’s stance is clear that we will not start the review before Tsinghua Unigroup submits its investment applications for two other Taiwanese companies,” commission Executive Secretary Emile Chang (張銘斌) said by telephone.
Chang was referring to Tsinghua’s planned investments in Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) and SPIL’s subsidiary ChipMOS Technologies Inc (南茂科技).
Powertech in October last year said it plans to sell 25 percent of its shares to Tsinghua for NT$19.4 billion (US$600.9 million), while SPIL and ChipMOS in December last year said they plan to each sell a 25 percent stake to the Chinese company for a combined NT$68.7 billion.
Shareholders of Powertech and ChipMos in January approved to sell stakes to the Chinese company.
Given that the combined market share of the three Taiwanese chip packagers are significant, the Chinese company’s planned investments would affect Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, Chang said.
He said the commission was not sure whether Tsinghua still wants to purchase stakes in the other two firms, as it has been months since Tsinghua said it plans to invest in SPIL and ChipMOS.
“We will contact Tsinghua to figure out their stance on the two planned investments,” he said.
Chang said that even if the commission receives the two other applications from the Chinese company, it will not complete the review within two months, as the commission has to report to the legislature regarding the progress of its review.
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