Mon, Apr 25, 2022 page12

• Belgium date to focus on chip alliance

  SHARING INNOVATION: With the world’s leading semiconductor research institute, Belgium is looking to attract Taiwan’s expertise to help manufacture chips in Europe

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  Focusing on bilateral cooperation in the semiconductor industry, the Taiwan-Belgium Joint Business Council meeting, the most important annual business event between the countries, is to take place on Thursday next week, the Belgian Office Taipei said.

  Due to COVID-19, the meeting for a second consecutive year is to be a hybrid Webinar, with Taiwanese business representatives gathered in Taipei and their Belgian counterparts joining online, the Belgian office said.

  The semiconductor industry is to be the primary focus, given that Taiwan is a leader in the field amid a global chip shortage, the office said.

  

  Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre president Luc Van den hove holds a 300mm wafer used for semiconductor research at his office in Leuven, Belgium, on July 7 last year.

  Photo: Bloomberg

  The EU in February unveiled the European Chips Act, which eases rules restricting the use of state aid to attract companies such as Intel Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) to manufacture more chips in the region.

  Belgium is home to the world’s leading semiconductor research and development institution, the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC), the office said.

  The act encourages Belgium — home to the EU capital, Brussels — to showcase its advantages in the semiconductor market and to attract Taiwanese companies to invest in European projects, it said.

  The highlight of the meeting is to be an address by IMEC chief strategy officer Jo de Boeck on “full-stack” innovation trends in the global semiconductor industry, the office said.

  The annual meeting, first held in 1981, typically alternates between Belgium and Taiwan, but has taken place in a hybrid format since the emergence of COVID-19.

  Belgium is Taiwan’s fifth-largest trading partner among EU member states, after Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and France, government data showed.

  In 2020, trade between the two nations totaled US$2.19 billion.

  Meanwhile, a delegation led by Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中) is to attend the SelectUSA Investment Summit in June, an Executive Yuan official said on Tuesday on condition of anonymity.

  The summit is an annual US Department of Commerce event that focuses on facilitating investment that creates US jobs, and is to take place this year in Maryland from June 26 to 29.

  Several Taiwan-based firms, especially those in the semiconductor and 5G sectors, are expected to attend, alongside US business representatives, along with federal and state officials.

  The semiconductor and 5G sectors were highlighted at the Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue that was held virtually in November last year.

  The Executive Yuan official said that although the list of Taiwanese participants has yet to be finalized, the American Institute in Taiwan, the US’ de facto embassy, had sent invitations to several prominent government officials, including National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫).

  The Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries Promotion Office said that SelectUSA has since its inception attracted US$59 billion in direct investment to the US and created 49,000 jobs there.

  Last year, 28 US state governors and eight federal government officials took part in the summit.
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