The Ministry of Economic Affairs approved a US$3.5 million investment application from notebook computer maker Compal Elec-tronics Co (
Opposition to government controls on China investment has risen over the past year, and government officials have already delayed announcing new laws three times. Failure to reveal new policies by the end of this month will make four delays, and some companies are running out of time.
Once Toshiba gets its China plant running at full capacity, notebook orders "will be taken away from Compal," said Chang Chih-ming, director of investments at Compal. Toshiba is Compal's largest customer, with almost half the latter's output going to the Japanese notebook powerhouse.
The Toshiba plant started pilot production of notebooks earlier this year, pumping out between 10,000 to 20,000 notebook computers per month. It's only a matter of time before plant managers work out the kinks and ramp up production to full capacity. Once the firm is ready, it will reduce orders to OEM partner Compal. If other Japanese notebook makers speed construction of plants in China, they could take away Taiwan's title as the world's number one supplier of notebook computers.
Chang believes Toshiba's China plant will be up to full production by the end of the year, about the time Compal expects the government to relax its policy on notebook manufacturing in China.
The application to invest US$3.5 million in China is part of the firm's two-year plan to construct four new plants to complement Compal's three CRT monitor factories already operating there. One of the new plants is for notebooks, another for mobile phone production and one is another CRT monitor factory.
The company expects to save between 3 and 5 percent on the manufacturing cost of notebook computers by relocating to China, enough to help weather the current slowdown in PC sales worldwide.
And Compal isn't the only notebook maker to move forward with China plans in anticipation of the move forward.
According to local reports, Quanta Computer's (廣達電腦) new motherboard manufacturing plant began operations yesterday. Analysts say Quanta was the last of Taiwan's notebook makers to build facilities in China. Compal, Inventec Co (英業達), Acer and Arima Computer Corp (華宇電腦) already operate factories in China, and Quanta officials say they delayed only due to government regulations.
The industry is now united in pressuring the government to hurry its policy revision along, and allow notebook manufacturing to commence in China.
Taiwan's high tech regulators also restrict Taiwanese firms from the production of semiconductors and petrochemicals in China.
In the most strongly worded statement on the issue thus far, Acer Inc (
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is reportedly making another pass at Nissan Motor Co, as the Japanese automaker's tie-up with Honda Motor Co falls apart. Nissan shares rose as much as 6 percent after Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) instructed former Nissan executive Jun Seki to connect with French carmaker Renault SA, which holds about 36 percent of Nissan’s stock. Hon Hai, the Taiwanese iPhone-maker also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), was exploring an investment or buyout of Nissan last year, but backed off in December after the Japanese carmaker penned a deal
WASHINGTON POLICY: Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs are tipped to hit shipments of small parcels, cutting export growth by 1.3 percentage points The decision by US President Donald Trump to ban Chinese companies from using a US tariff loophole would hit tens of billions of dollars of trade and reduce China’s economic growth this year, according to new estimates by economists at Nomura Holdings Inc. According to Nomura’s estimates, last year companies such as Shein (希音) and PDD Holdings Inc’s (拼多多控股) Temu shipped US$46 billion of small parcels to the US to take advantage of the rule that allows items with a declared value under US$800 to enter the US tariff-free. Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs would slash such