The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it has approved of NT$504.7 billion (US$16.09 billion) in investments as another four companies joined a government program aimed at boosting investment in the nation.
As a trade dispute between the US and China continues, the ministry has approved 102 companies returning to invest in the nation, providing up to 43,900 job opportunities, while another 50 companies are waiting in line.
TXC Corp (台灣晶技), the nation’s leading quartz crystal components maker, is to invest NT$2.5 billion to expand production of parts using 5G and microelectromechanical system technologies at the company’s plant in Taoyuan’s Pinzheng District (平鎮).
Jexsee Electronics Co Ltd, (全一電子), which specializes in the production of TVs, plans to relocate production from China and invest more than NT$1.5 billion by setting up a smart production plant in Taichung Industrial Park (台中工業區).
The company is to create an estimated 300 jobs.
Machinery parts manufacturer Feedback Tech Corp (翔名科技), which produces semiconductors, display panels and DRAM, is to invest NT$1.5 billion in a new plant in Hsinchu City’s Xiangshan District (香山) and recruit about 38 people.
The world’s second-largest manufacturer of hinges used in laptops, display panels and other electronic devices, Jarllytec Co Ltd (兆利科技), plans to invest NT$1.8 billion to set up a new plant in the New Taipei Industrial Park (新北產業園區) and create an estimated 70 job opportunities.
The ministry yesterday also approved three small and medium-sized enterprises’ applications to join a similar government program.
Atom Health Corp (亞拓醫療), Propower Fastener Corp (鉑川) and Pang Chan Metals Co Ltd (邦昌金屬) are to invest more than NT$1 billion to increase production in Taiwan and create about 130 jobs.
With US President Donald Trump on Thursday announcing another round of 10 percent tariffs on US$300 billion of Chinese goods, the Bureau of Foreign Trade warned of a bigger impact on Taiwan’s economy, which depends heavily on exports.
The potential tariffs include products such as smartphones, PCs and other communication devices, steel products and machinery equipment, as well as other consumer goods, the bureau said, adding that original equipment manufacturers would be directly affected, while machinery equipment makers would see a decrease in Chinese investment.
However, the textile industry would suffer less of an effect as a majority of companies have relocated production sites from China, the bureau said.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to