Taiwan is negotiating for a contract to develop an industrial zone in Saudi Arabia as part of a new push to tap business opportunities in the Middle East, a top economics official said yesterday.
"A plan for the project is slated to be completed by the end of February," Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Fadah Hsieh (謝發達) said, while giving a briefing about his recent fact-finding trip to Saudia Arabia.
The government will collaborate with Taiwanese companies to bid for the multimillion dollar project, he said.
Late last month, Hsieh led a delegation of representatives from 11 local companies to Saudi Arabia to attend the 20th Session of the Saudi-Taiwan Joint Committee for Economic and Technical Cooperation.
The delegation was comprised of representatives from the state-owned China Steel Corp (中鋼), CTCI Corp (中鼎工程), Taiwan Fertilizer Co (台灣肥料), CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油), UPC Group (聯成集團), China Man-Made Fiber Corp (中國人纖), Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), CECI Engineering Consultant Inc (台灣世曦工程顧問), Teco Electric and Machinery Co (東元電機), National Development Fund and Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital.
INTEREST
During the meeting, the oil-rich country -- which is seeking to diversify its economy -- showed great interest in Taiwan's photovoltaic, nano, information technology, medical and healthcare industries. Saudi Arabia also expressed a desire to strengthen technology exchanges and intensify existing vocational training programs between the two countries, Hsieh said.
While the delegation invited Saudi Arabia to invest in Taiwan, it also urged the wealthy Middle East country to increase imports of Taiwanese products to narrow the trade deficit.
After the session, Hsieh made an inspection tour of the King Abdullah Economic City, the first of six economic cities that Saudi Arabia plans to build.
The King Abdullah Economic City is located about 170km north of the commercial hub of Jeddah, which will be developed based on the division of industrial, residential, recreational and harbor zones, Hsieh said.
"Most of the development projects in the economic city have already been assigned to contractors. What Taiwan is eyeing is a deal to develop the economic city's industrial zone, but the scale of the project has not been confirmed," he said.
PETROCHEMICALS
Saudi Arabia plans to use the industrial zone to house firms engaging in middle and downstream petrochemical production, Hsieh said.
To tap into the Middle East market, the Taiwan International Development Corp -- a joint venture between the government-controlled National Development Fund and local businesses -- had originally planned to raise a NT$2 billion investment fund. However, it was now considering expanding the size of the fund, Hsieh said, adding that fundraising was nearing completion.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
RSS