Taiwan’s largest automaker, Yulon Group (裕隆集團), yesterday denied it was abandoning its electric car production base in Taiwan after a newspaper said it planned to move production lines to China because the Taiwanese government failed to give the sector a big push.
The research and development hub for Yulon’s electric cars as well as the production facilities are located in Sanyi (三義), Miaoli County, the automaker said in a statement.
The company’s flagship electric car brand — Luxgen (納智捷) — will be marketed around the world from the Taiwan base, it added.
Yulon, which has poured more than NT$5 billion (US$171 million) into related development, has three electric vehicle models and five to seven more models are in the pipeline, the statement said.
“Our investment in electric cars will only go up,” the company said.
The Chinese-language Commercial Times reported that Yulon is considering producing Luxgen cars in Hangzhou, China, because the Taiwanese government hasn’t been responsive to companies’ requests for financial aid or aggressive enough in encouraging mass uptake.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday joined in to rebut the report, saying the government has been proactive in assisting the development of the electric car industry. It said in a statement that subsidies totaling NT$497 million have been granted so far to 14 companies engaged in related research and development.
Of that amount, it has subsidized NT$240 million to a consortium formed by five vendors, including Yulon, over the past two years, thus playing a part in helping the Luxgen roll out from the production lines, the ministry said.
The government last April approved a scheme to inject NT$9.7 billion over six years to help Taiwanese vendors secure a place in the burgeoning electric car market. The first three years would be the pilot-run phase in which the government aims to use 3,000 “green” cars to boost uptake.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
RSS