The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday approved ABC Taiwan Electronics Corp’s (千如電機) application to invest more than NT$600 million (US$19.6 million) in the nation as part of a government program to boost domestic investment.
Specializing in the design and manufacturing of inductive components and precision mechanical parts, the Taoyuan-headquartered company is to add a smart production wing to its facility in the city’s Yangmei District (楊梅).
The move came after a dip in the company’s sales, affected by US tariffs on China imports, as ABC assembles about 70 percent of its products in China, the ministry said.
Since the program’s launch in January, total planned investments by returning Taiwanese companies have reached NT$615.8 billion, creating 53,141 job opportunities, the ministry said.
In a similar program designed for local firms that have not set foot in China, three companies gained regulatory approval to invest a combined NT$1.6 billion and create 66 job opportunities, it said.
That brought the total for such companies to 10, bringing in more than NT$12.2 billion in investments and creating 795 job opportunities, it said.
Plastic bottle and spray manufacturer Living Fountain Plastic Industrial Co (集泉塑膠), which counts Unilever PLC, 3M Co and Sebapharma GmbH & Co KG among its clients, plans to invest more than NT$500 million to expand and upgrade its production facilities at its headquarters in Taichung’s Wufong District (霧峰) as the company aims to produce non-toxic and recyclable single-use cutlery.
Jiun Yo Co (俊侑股份), which specializes in paper food packagings, is to invest more than NT$800 million to set up an automated smart factory near its headquarters in Nantou City as it also looks to focus on environmentally friendly packaging, the ministry said.
Panther Technology Co (鴻谷科技), which provides testing services for mixed-signal, logic analog and other products in the semiconductor industry, is to invest an estimated NT$300 million to purchase Internet of Things (IoT) technology applied testing equipment for ICs at its plant in the Hsinchu Industrial Park (新竹科學園區), the ministry said.
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