Foreign direct investment (FDI) approved by the government last year fell from a year earlier, but still hit the fourth-highest level on record because of investments in the local semiconductor and renewable energy sectors, the Investment Commission said yesterday.
Approved FDI was US$11.20 billion, down 2.14 percent year-on-year because of a high comparison base, the commission said.
However, it was the fourth-highest amount since FDI was first recorded in 1953, trailing only US$15.3 billion in 2007, US$13.9 billion in 2006 and US$11.4 billion in 2018.
Despite the year-on-year decrease, the number of approved applications rose 13.73 percent from a year earlier to 4,118, commission data showed.
The biggest approved investment was US$2.12 billion by US chipmaker Micron Technology Inc, while Alphabet Inc, the parent company of search engine giant Google, invested US$835 million in its local operation, the commission said.
With the nation promoting offshore wind power development, Germany’s Yunlin Holding GmbH, Denmark’s Orsted Wind Power TW Holding A/S, Australia’s Macquarie Corporate Holdings Pty and Dutch firm JERA Formosa 2 BV proposed investing a combined US$1.8 billion.
Approved FDI from China was down 57.97 percent year-on-year to US$97.18 million, but the number of applications approved by the commission were up 1.42 percent year-on-year to 143.
Since June 30, 2009, when the government lifted a ban on investment from China, 1,371 applications committing to US$2.28 billion in investment have been approved, the commission said.
Meanwhile, the commission last year approved US$6.85 billion in foreign investment not including China, down 52.07 percent from 2018.
Much of the decline came in investment to non-Asian destinations, especially in holding companies in the Caribbean.
However, outbound investment in nations targeted by the New Southbound Policy rose 16.16 percent year-on-year to US$2.79 billion, largely in Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and Australia.
The government’s New Southbound Policy promotes exchanges with ASEAN and South Asian nations, as well as Australia and New Zealand, in a bid to reduce Taiwan’s economic reliance on China.
The commission said the increase in investment in those nations was due to caution about the Chinese market amid a trade dispute between Washington and Beijing.
That was also reflected in China-bound investment approved by the commission, which fell 51 percent year-on-year to US$4.17 billion, the fourth consecutive annual decline, the commission’s data showed.
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