The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday said it is investigating the possibility of illegal Chinese investments in Taiwan’s Brogent Technologies Inc (智崴資訊) by disguising the source of the funds.
Chinese investors established a Hong Kong company and set up a branch in Taiwan, which began purchasing Brogent shares in August last year, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday.
Those investors have held a 3.5 percent stake in Brogent, the Liberty Times reported.
Although the local branch has registered working capital of only NT$1 million (US$32,409), it has acquired more than NT$300 million of Brogent shares, putting it among the top 10 stakeholders, the newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources.
Chinese nationals and companies must obtain government permission before investing in Taiwan, according to provisions of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例).
“We received a tip-off about dubious purchases of Brogent’s shares, but we cannot disclose whether there are Chinese investors who tried to dodge the regulatory review system, as we have not completed our investigation,” Securities and Futures Bureau Deputy Director-General Tsai Li-ling (蔡麗玲) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
The bureau is investigating the custodian banks that helped the foreign company wire money to Taiwan and would look into those who helped the firm buy Brogent’s shares, Tsai said, adding that the commission would investigate Brogent if necessary.
However, Brogent, a manufacturer of theme park rides, yesterday denied the Liberty Times report, saying that it has received no funds from Chinese investors.
The Kaohsiung-based company said all of its clients were theme parks or entertainment business operators, dismissing the Liberty Times report, which said the company is capable of developing submarine simulators.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said the Investment Commission would also look into the case.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investment project in Arizona has progressed better than expected, but it still faces challenges such as water and labor shortages, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Yeh Chun-hsien (葉俊顯) said yesterday. Speaking with reporters after visiting TSMC’s Arizona hub and attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit in Maryland last week, Yeh said TSMC’s Arizona site turned a profit of NT$16.14 billion (US$514 million) last year in its first full year of mass production. “TSMC told me it was surprised by the smooth trial run of the first fab, which has left the company optimistic about the project’s outlook,”
RSS