Taiwan Land Development Corp (台灣土地開發) has teamed up with Canada-based Cameron Thomson Group to build a studio park in Hualien County with a view to making it a local version of Hollywood.
The “Huallywood” project aims to create an end-to-end ecosystem in the scenic area to assist global film and TV producers by facilitating content development, production, distribution and monetization, Taiwan Land Development chairman Chiu Fu-sheng (邱復生) said.
The park is part of an ongoing development project in the Hualien Bay area that is to encompass a residential complex, hotels, movie theaters and recreational and retail spaces, Chiu said.
“Hualien has advantages to offer the world production market by creating the next generation of filming facilities for international producers,” said Chiu, who gained credentials in TV and film production before delving into property development.
The park might help local film and TV producers move into the spotlight, taking over as the nation’s main industry from the information technology and communications sectors, Chiu said.
Huallywood is to have eight sound stages of sizes including 3,000m2, 2,000m2, 1,500m2 and 500m2. It is also to have 20,000m2 of production and executive office space, as well as outdoor stages and other facilities, Taiwan Land Development said.
The film industry has entered the era of digitalization, where content development has gained more importance than distribution channels, Chiu said, adding that quality content allows Hollywood to maintain its lead position on the world stage.
“Content creators need advanced facilities, technology and production resources to increase cost efficiency,” Chiu said.
“Huallywood studios is designed to provide world-class facilities to cover every phase of production,” he said.
After its completion, the project will provide jobs for media production professionals in Taiwan and contribute to the national treasury, Chiu said.
Cameron Thomson Group president Ronald Thomson said the digital revolution and intellectual property-based content distribution have caused dramatic changes in the film and TV industry worldwide, driving producers to search for ways to produce better-quality content at lower costs.
“Efficiency enhancement is the key to survival for industry participants these days, and Huallywood intends to provide solutions covering aspects of finance, studio development, operation, production, post production, media asset management and content distribution into its value chain,” Thomson said in Taipei.
Cameron Thomson Group is a major provider of outsourced business development solutions for the media, entertainment and technology sectors.
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ¥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a