The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday announced plans to set up a mechanism by the end of this year to allow small businesses to raise capital in the nation’s over-the-counter market, as part of a government effort to help boost creative industries.
The business startup board, taking cues from the US Jump-start Our Business Startups Act enacted in April last year, aims to encourage funding of local companies that have innovative ideas, but which lack the money to carry them out, outgoing FSC securities and futures bureau director-general Huang Tien-mu (黃天牧) told a media briefing.
Huang is about to assume the No. 2 position in the FSC, after the Cabinet recently tapped his predecessor Wu Tang-chieh (吳當傑) as new vice finance minister.
Only firms with capital of NT$50 million (US$1.67 million) or less are qualified to apply to list on the startup board and their shares may not be traded on the open market, Huang said.
Interested companies may wait for up to two years before the GRETAI Securities Market approves the listing application, he said.
Potential candidates are firms in the creative and agricultural industries across Taiwan, but may encompass all sectors, Huang said.
“We hope about 70 companies can list on the startup board next year and raise a total of NT$210 million,” Huang said.
As of July this year, about 64 percent of Taiwanese companies, or 390,000, have a capitalization of between NT$1 million and NT$10 million, the commission said, adding that another 18 percent, or 110,000 firms, have a capitalization of between NT$10 million and N$50 million.
The deteriorating international business environment has driven the government to place more emphasis on a services economy in the hope of reducing Taiwan’s dependence on external demand and creating job opportunities more evenly in different parts of the country.
Successful creative projects could be a film production, activities to strengthen public appreciation of rural life and other ventures with innovative value-adds, the commission said.
While institutional and individual investors may both apply to buy startup shares, the commission keeps a cap of NT$60,000 on individual investors to limit investment risks, Huang said. Further, startup companies may not increase their capital by more than NT$15 million a year, he added.
The commission encourages companies listed on the startup board to move onto the emerging stock market and the main board, as they grow in scale, Huang said.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI