The latest UN World Investment Report ranked Taiwan No. 42 in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said, with US$8.16 billion in FDI inflows last year, a historical high.
Taiwan ranked No. 29 in FDI outflows at US$11.11 billion last year — also a record high — the ministry said in a press release on Wednesday, citing a report issued by the UN Conference on Trade and Development on Sept. 24.
Global FDI inflows rose sharply for the third straight year last year, up 30 percent from a year earlier at NT$1.83 trillion, surpassing the previous record set in 2000, the report said. Nonetheless, the effects of the financial crisis were beginning to be felt and are expected to cause a drop in global FDI flows this year, it said.
As of the end of last year, Taiwan’s accumulated FDI outflows reached US$158.36 billion, up 24.7 percent from a year earlier. Taiwan ranked 17th in the world, and No. 3 in Asia, after Hong Kong and Japan.
The report also analyzed investments by transnational corporations (TNCs) in the infrastructure sector last year. Its findings showed that FDI from TNCs investing in infrastructure expanded rapidly between 1990 and 2006, especially in developing and transition countries.
Moreover, some of the key investors in the infrastructure sector are based in developing countries, the report said.
The UN trade conference estimated that there are 79,000 TNCs worldwide, with their combined sales totaling US$31.2 trillion last year — up 20.7 percent from a year earlier. These TNCs controlled US$68.72 trillion in assets last year, up 23.1 percent from the previous year.
Sixteen Taiwanese companies were listed among the top 100 non-financial TNCs in emerging economies last year: Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), Acer Inc (宏碁), Inventec Corp (英業達), Qisda Corp (佳世達), Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶), Delta Electronics Inc (台達電), MiTAC International Corp (神達), Cheng Shin Rubber Ind Co (正新), Unimicron Corp (欣興), Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明), Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (日月光) and Wistron Corp (緯創).
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