The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday gave the green light to Good Way Technology Co’s (東碩資訊) application to invest up to NT$700 million (US$23.1 million) in Taiwan under a three-year program that provides incentives for overseas Taiwanese companies to invest back home.
Good Way, which specializes in docking stations and counts Intel Corp among its major clients, plans to set up a manufacturing facility in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止), the ministry said in a statement.
Good Way, which has a research and development facility in Taiwan and only one manufacturing plant — in Kunshan, China — decided to expand its operations in Taiwan to meet customers’ requests that it diversifies its production to lower risks amid trade tensions between the US and China, the ministry said.
The ministry also approved three other companies’ investment applications: mechanical parts maker Chenming Electronic Tech Corp (晟銘電子), golf club manufacturer Juming Co (鉅明) and storage furniture maker Huei Tyng Enterprise Co (輝庭企業).
Chenming Electronic, which specializes in server cloning, plans to set up a new automated plant in northern Taiwan to sharpen its competitive edge, the ministry said, without disclosing the planned investment amount.
Juming and Huei Tyng are to invest more than NT$800 million and NT$900 million respectively to expand their production capacities as more orders are transferred to Taiwan, the ministry said.
STATE UTILITIES
In other news, the ministry said Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) posted a pretax profit of NT$18 billion for last year after an injection of NT$32.7 billion from the government’s energy price stabilization fund.
Without allocation from the fund, Taipower posted pretax losses of NT$14.7 billion due to a combination of frozen electricity rates and mounting fuel costs, the ministry said.
Oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) posted a profit of NT$35.2 billion, as global crude oil prices rose last year.
However, the company is forecasting losses as international oil markets have slumped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taiwan Sugar Corp (台糖) and Taiwan Water Corp (台灣自來水) posted pretax profits of NT$3.28 billion and NT$191 million respectively for last year, the ministry said.
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
INFLATION CONSIDERATION: The BOJ governor said that it would ‘keep making appropriate decisions’ and would adjust depending on the economy and prices The Bank of Japan (BOJ) yesterday raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest in 30 years and said more increases are in the pipeline if conditions allow, in a sign of growing conviction that it can attain the stable inflation target it has pursued for more than a decade. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s policy board increased the rate by 0.2 percentage points to 0.75 percent, in a unanimous decision, the bank said in a statement. The central bank cited the rising likelihood of its economic outlook being realized. The rate change was expected by all 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The