The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday approved Highlight Tech Corp’s (日揚科技) application to invest NT$600 million (US$19.9 million) in Taiwan through a government program.
The vacuum chamber systems and components manufacturer has been heavily affected by US tariffs imposed on its products made in China, and decided to move part of its production from Shanghai to Hukou Industrial Park (湖口工業區) in Hsinchu County, the ministry said.
Highlight Tech plans to expand its services toward local and overseas semiconductor makers, the ministry said.
The ministry also approved two other companies’ applications to invest in Taiwan.
Original equipment manufacturer of aluminum forging products ALFOT Technologies Co Ltd (盛復工業) — which supplies Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz, Bavarian Motor Works AG and Jaguar Land Rover Ltd (JLR), among other automakers — plans to invest NT$300 million to set up smart production lines at the Taichung Industrial Park (台中工業區), the ministry said.
The company has obtained orders for electric car chassis components from BMW and JLR, and it plans to use automated equipment at its Taichung plant to increase production efficiency, the ministry said, adding that ALFOT’s investment would provide 25 local jobs.
Chen Yi Paper Container Co Ltd (誠毅紙器), which provides food packaging to chain restaurants such as McDonald’s, MOS Burger and Starbucks, plans to invest more than NT$400 million to set up smart production lines at its existing plant in Kaohsiung.
Seeking to profit from a growing anti-plastic packaging trend, the company plans to expand its production of paper packaging from recycled containers, the ministry said.
The government investment program, which was launched early last year amid escalating trade tensions between the US and China, has to date attracted more than NT$719.4 billion in investments from 174 Taiwanese firms.
Although firms initially sought to expand production in Taiwan mainly to avoid US duties, the move is also proving beneficial as the COVID-19 outbreak disrupted production in China.
Following a meeting with local information and communication technology businesses, Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) yesterday said that Taiwanese companies are boosting domestic production as they transfer orders from their Chinese manufacturing facilities.
To fulfill shipments, local manufacturers have asked the ministry to assist in securing labor by extending employees working hours and accelerating logistics through quicker inspection of imported materials, Shen said.
The ministry plans more meetings with other industries across the manufacturing, retail and services sectors within the next two weeks, he said.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
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