Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) dominated the country’s private investment in the past three years, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE).
Data compiled by the exchange show that TSMC invested a total of NT$821.1 billion (US$27.4 billion) in capital assets — which could include production equipment, manufacturing plants and other property — from 2014 to last year, accounting for about 48 percent of the total NT$1.71 trillion invested by companies listed on the main board over that period.
United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) was second place in terms of fixed asset investments, injecting NT$123 billion, and flat-panel supplier Innolux Corp (群創) ranked as the third-largest investor of fixed capital over the three-year period, with NT$66.4 billion.
In the financial sector, Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) and Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) took fourth and 10th place in capital asset investment, with their funds focused on property acquisitions.
TWSE chairman Hsu Chang-yao (許璋瑤) said that without TSMC, Taiwan’s private investment would have been insignificant, while the two major financial firms’ investments failed to make a substantial contribution to economic growth as the manufacturing sector did over the period.
While the local economy has been on the road to recovery, the pace of growth has been slow due to a lack of private investment, he said.
Taiwan needs more investment to cultivate potential start-ups, Hsu said, adding that it would create real benefits for the economy at a time when the government has vowed to improve the local investment environment by resolving “five shortages” and encouraging more private investment.
Taiwan is sitting on large sums of idle money and how to encourage these funds to enter fixed asset investment is the main concern for the country’s economic development, Hsu said.
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