The Ministry of Economic Affairs on Thursday last week approved eight small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) applications to invest a combined NT$2.2 billion (US$72.8 million) in Taiwan via a government program that offers assistance in areas such as financing, taxes and securing resources, including land, water and electricity.
The program has attracted NT$44.7 billion in total investments from 102 SMEs since its launch in July, the ministry said.
Among the eight SMEs, digital keyless door locks manufacturer Sun Castle Global Precision Technology Co Ltd (日堡全球精密) is to invest NT$400 million by setting up a new smart production facility due to saturation at its plant in Taichung’s Shengang District (神岡), the ministry said.
The company, which also specializes in electro-plating and the treatment of metal surfaces for electronic parts and IC transistors, aims to ameliorate the manufacturing process of digital keyless door locks. Its investment is to offer 26 job opportunities, the ministry said.
Free-cutting brass bars and tubes maker Chun Yih Copper Industrial Co Ltd (駿億製銅工業) plans to invest NT$100 million in setting up a second-phase plant in Changhua County’s Huatan Township (花壇) to produce brass bathroom parts, it said.
The company supplies products to the US’ Kohler Co, Germany’s Hansgrohe SE and Taiwanese sanitary wares supplier Hocheng Corp (和成衛浴), the ministry said, adding that it would provide 22 job opportunities.
Windshield wiper blade manufacturer Fu Gang Co Ltd (復岡), which counts Germany’s Hella KGaA Hueck & Co and Wurth International AG, and the US’ 3M Co and General Motors Co among its clients, has secured the ministry’s approval to invest more than NT$100 million in establishing new production facilities at its plant in the Yilan Lize Industrial Park (宜蘭利澤工業區), the ministry said.
The new investment aims to handle transferring orders of 21 million wiper blades driven by the trade spat between the US and China, the ministry said. It would create 30 job opportunities, the ministry added.
Homemark Industry Co Ltd (鴻茂工業), which manufactures water heaters and towers, is to invest over NT$400 million to set up an advanced production plant in Yunlin County’s Dounan Township (斗南), which would create 37 new jobs, while compression stockings maker Sunpolar International Co Ltd (杉蒲企業) is to invest more than NT$200 million in a new plant equipped with automated machinery in Changhua County that would create 17 jobs, the ministry said.
As for Kimberly-Clark Corp’s long-term supplier Lien Bin Plastics MFG Co (聯賓塑膠), its plans to invest nearly NT$500 million to purchase the newest environmentally friendly printers and plastic blasting equipment comes after it secured bag orders from Walt Disney Co’s Tokyo amusement park, the ministry said.
Lien Bin, which also supplies products to Procter & Gamble Co and Japan’s Unicharm Corp, expects its investment to create nine job opportunities.
Vitae Biomed Co Ltd (微體生物醫學), which specializes in early detection of cancer, is to invest over NT$300 million to set up a development and examination laboratory in Taipei’s Nangang Biotechnology Research Park (南港國家生技研究園), while establishing its headquarters at New Taipei City’s Sijhih Oriental Science Park (汐止東方科技園區), the ministry said.
Stone processor Cheng Chuan Marble Factory Co Ltd (正全大理石) plans to invest more than NT$30 million in its existing plant in Hualien County, the ministry said.
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New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last