The government should use all means at its disposal to stem the flow of high-tech investment to China, according to a report out of the National Security Bureau (
The Bureau issued an analysis of their conclusion in a top secret report titled, An Analysis on how the Chinese Communist Party Attracts Taiwanese High Tech Investment for the Suzhou Industrial Park.
According to Chinese-language media, the report implores government officials to curb high-tech investment, saying 74 Taiwan tech firms have already invested NT$20 billion (US$841 million) in the Suzhou (蘇州) Park, which sits just outside of Shanghai.
One official said the report emphasizes high-tech firms due to fears that once they are heavily invested, these firms will become political puppets of Beijing.
"The `no haste, be patient' investment policy has nothing to do with the small and medium-sized companies in Taiwan, only with big investors," said a government official on condition of anonymity.
Formosa Plastics Group Chair-man Wang Yung-ching (王永慶) is a prime example. On public television last week, he implored people in Taiwan to "calmly accept the `one China' principle," while repeating his call to lift all curbs on investment across the Strait.
The "no haste" policy stopped Wang from investing US$6 billion in 1992 to build a chemical complex in China's Fujian Province.
Laws in Taiwan currently limit single investments to only US$50 million for China-bound projects, and ban certain high-tech investments and infrastructure projects. These measures have had little effect on companies who skirt the law by setting up holding companies and transferring investment money directly from overseas accounts into China.
Last year, China's information technology production value topped US$25.5 billion, beating Taiwan for the first time, with Taiwanese firms based in China accounting for an estimated 72 percent of that figure.
"I think people are really getting too emotional about [this issue] because nobody, including the government, is sitting down to discuss this matter rationally. How much money has gone over to China? How much impact will it have on industry here? You have to go over it sector by sector, item by item and ask the businessmen who intend to go or have already gone to talk about this issue in front of the public," said Andrew Yang (
According to the National Security Bureau report, officials in Suzhou are actively developing industry "clusters" which include the entire spectrum of each industry. From downstream component makers like computer motherboard and monitor producers to PC cases and mouse makers, China has slowly won over the computer industry.
Now, Chinese officials are targeting the semiconductor industry, and have won a few victories with investments pledged by Winston Wang (
US PROBE: The Information reported that the US Department of Commerce is investigating whether the firm made advanced chips for China’s Huawei Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract maker of advanced chips, yesterday said it is a law-abiding company, and is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations including export controls. The Hsinchu-based chip giant issued the statement after US news Web site The Information ran a story saying that the US Department of Commerce has launched a probe into TSMC over whether it breached export rules by making smartphone or artificial intelligence (AI) chips for China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為). “We maintain a robust and comprehensive export system for monitoring and ensuring compliance,” the statement said. “If we
DEMAND FOR AI CHIPS: Net income in the third quarter surged 31.2% quarter-on-quarter to NT$325.26 billion, the strongest quarterly return in the company’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday raised its revenue forecast to annual growth of 30 percent this year, thanks to strong and sustainable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) processors for servers. It was the second upward adjustment from 25 percent year-on-year growth estimated three months ago, despite recent concerns about whether the AI boom could be another technology bubble. “The demand is real. It’s real. And I believe it is just the beginning of this demand. Alright, so one of my key customers said the demand right now is ‘insane,’” TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C.
Starbucks Corp might have the more recognizable name, but 7-Eleven’s City Cafe remains the king of Taiwan’s fresh coffee market, helped by the convenience store chain’s extensive market presence and product diversification. President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商), which runs both the 7-Eleven and Starbucks store chains in Taiwan, established the City Cafe brand in 2004. The brand took off when actress Gwei Lun-mei (桂綸鎂) became its spokesperson in 2007. City Cafe’s sales exceeded NT$10 billion (US$311.69 million) for the first time in 2015, surpassing the revenue of Starbucks Taiwan, and rose to more than NT$17 billion last year, exceeding the NT$14.98
COUNTRY-BASED: Setting ceilings on sales of the technology would tighten limits that originally targeted China’s ambitions in artificial intelligence amid security risks US officials have discussed capping sales of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips from Nvidia Corp and other American companies on a country-specific basis, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would limit some nations’ AI capabilities. The new approach would set a ceiling on export licenses for some countries in the interest of national security, according to the people, who described the private discussions on condition of anonymity. Officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden focused on Persian Gulf countries that have a growing appetite for AI data centers and the deep pockets to fund them, the people