MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the largest IC designer in Taiwan, is planning to invest ￡10 million (US$12.61 million) in the UK over the next five years, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office said on Sunday.
On the eve of the opening of yesterday’s Global Investment Summit in London, the office announced that the Taiwanese company would invest in several British start-ups.
The UK has more than 140 “unicorn” enterprises — privately owned start-ups valued at more than US$1 billion each — which account for about one-third of the total number in Europe and more than the combined number in Germany, France and Sweden.
Photo: CNA
So far, the UK has attracted US$2.7 trillion in foreign direct investments (FDIs), the third highest in the world, British data showed.
MediaTek runs two offices in the UK that specialize in research and development: one in Cambridge, England, and the other in Kent, England.
The company’s recent investments in the UK include a joint project with Bullitt Group Ltd to develop the world’s first two-way satellite communications technology for use in smartphones and other devices.
MediaTek has also partnered with Inmarsat PLC in the UK to provide satellite communications services to customers.
Sunak on Sunday announced ￡29.5 billion of private-sector investments in the UK, before hosting global executives in his bid to restore the state as Europe’s top FDI destination.
Australian funds IFM Investors Pty Ltd and Aware Super Pty Ltd are to invest ￡10 billion and ￡5 billion respectively into projects ranging from infrastructure and energy transition to affordable housing, No. 10 Downing Street said in a statement.
Spanish power giant Iberdrola SA is to add ￡7 billion to its investment plans in Britain, which include transmission and distribution electricity networks, it said.
Other projects listed in the statement include a ￡2.5 billion investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure by Microsoft Corp.
“Attracting global investment is at the heart of my plan for growing the economy,” Sunak said in the statement.
New funding for industries such as clean energy, life sciences and advanced technology would create high-quality jobs across Britain, Sunak said.
Top financiers Stephen Schwarzman from Blackstone Inc, David Solomon from Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Jamie Dimon from JPMorgan Chase & Co were due to attend the investment summit at the 16th-century Hampton Court Palace.
France last year overtook Britain as the European country with the highest number of new FDI projects.
At a similar FDI gathering in May, French President Emmanuel Macron announced 13 billion euros (US$14.23 billion) of investment commitments in his country.
SETBACK: Apple’s India iPhone push has been disrupted after Foxconn recalled hundreds of Chinese engineers, amid Beijing’s attempts to curb tech transfers Apple Inc assembly partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has recalled about 300 Chinese engineers from a factory in India, the latest setback for the iPhone maker’s push to rapidly expand in the country. The extraction of Chinese workers from the factory of Yuzhan Technology (India) Private Ltd, a Hon Hai component unit, in southern Tamil Nadu state, is the second such move in a few months. The company has started flying in Taiwanese engineers to replace staff leaving, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named, as the
The prices of gasoline and diesel at domestic fuel stations are to rise NT$0.1 and NT$0.4 per liter this week respectively, after international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to rise to NT$27.3, NT$28.8 and NT$30.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$26.2 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26 at Formosa pumps, they said. The announcements came after international crude oil prices
DOLLAR SIGNS: The central bank rejected claims that the NT dollar had appreciated 10 percentage points more than the yen or the won against the greenback The New Taiwan dollar yesterday fell for a sixth day to its weakest level in three months, driven by equity-related outflows and reactions to an economics official’s exchange rate remarks. The NT dollar slid NT$0.197, or 0.65 percent, to close at NT$30.505 per US dollar, central bank data showed. The local currency has depreciated 1.97 percent so far this month, ranking as the weakest performer among Asian currencies. Dealers attributed the retreat to foreign investors wiring capital gains and dividends abroad after taking profit in local shares. They also pointed to reports that Washington might consider taking equity stakes in chipmakers, including Taiwan Semiconductor
A German company is putting used electric vehicle batteries to new use by stacking them into fridge-size units that homes and businesses can use to store their excess solar and wind energy. This week, the company Voltfang — which means “catching volts” — opened its first industrial site in Aachen, Germany, near the Belgian and Dutch borders. With about 100 staff, Voltfang says it is the biggest facility of its kind in Europe in the budding sector of refurbishing lithium-ion batteries. Its CEO David Oudsandji hopes it would help Europe’s biggest economy ween itself off fossil fuels and increasingly rely on climate-friendly renewables. While
RSS