Vietnam-bound investment last year more than doubled to US$2.8 billion, as Taiwanese firms sought to take advantage of the Southeast Asian nation’s fast-growing economy and meet the need for global supply chain realignment, Deloitte & Touche Taiwan (勤業眾信) said yesterday, citing data from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The volume made Taiwan the sixth-largest foreign investor in Vietnam, whose GDP growth is forecast by the IMF to approach 5.8 percent this year, as the global research body is positive about Vietnam’s economic recovery despite lingering uncertainty and geopolitical conflicts, the local branch of the international consultancy firm said.
Rising geopolitical tensions and awareness of the importance of sustainable operations on the part of enterprises have lent support to southward investment opportunities and Vietnam has emerged as a major beneficiary, Deloitte Taiwan managing partner Kenny Hong (洪國田) said.
Photo: Reuters
The Vietnamese government has unveiled a 10-year economic and social development initiative and has encouraged industrial sectors to transform and upgrade by focusing their attention on technology-intensive, low-pollution and high-value-added products and services, Hong said.
As a result, prices for industrial plots and personnel costs in the Southeast Asian country picked up significantly last year, but there are still abundant investment opportunities for companies making information technology and high- value-added products, he said.
The Vietnamese government is promoting foreign investment through favorable policy measures and expanding its consumer market, Deloitte Taiwan said.
Maggie Pan (潘家涓), another Deloitte Taiwan executive, said that Vietnam is also benefiting from the environment, social and governance (ESG) trend that has driven the country to support technology-intensive industrial sectors and woo foreign investment in electric vehicles, offshore wind power, semiconductors and high-end services.
Toward that aim, the Vietnamese government has made a priority of attracting investment projects that can help boost the nation’s technology development and it has provided tax incentives to boost investments, Deloitte Taiwan said.
Taiwanese firms intent on setting footprints there should pay attention to regulations, it said.
While Vietnam is courting foreign investment, it is pressing ahead with tax reforms, including export and import duties and a minimum-income tax resolution that drew heated discussions last year, Deloitte Taiwan said.
Taiwanese firms eyeing Vietnam should carefully study tax burdens and legal compliance requirements to reduce investment risks, it said.
The minimum tax takes effect this year and might generate NT$18.8 billion (US$597.96 million) annually, it said, adding that it remains to be seen if and how the new taxation would affect foreign investment interest.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive 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 drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
RSS