The legislature’s passage last week of amendments to the Act for Industrial Innovation (產業創新條例) would help retain crucial technologies at home and promote the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and carbon-reduction technologies, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said on Friday.
Under the amendment to the act’s Article 22, companies investing in certain countries, industries or technologies are required to obtain government approval if their investments are above a designated threshold, have a potentially negative impact on national security or economic development, obstruct the government’s ability to abide by international protocols, or contravene labor laws.
Article 22 had previously only required companies making overseas investments of more than NT$1.5 billion (US$45.99 million) to obtain prior approval from the authorities, the ministry said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Under the new Article 67-3, companies failing to gain prior government approval for investing in designated countries face fines ranging from NT$50,000 to NT$1 million, with repeated contraventions subject to higher fines of between NT$500,000 and NT$10 million, the ministry said.
Previously, the regulation only applied to companies’ investment amount, with investments above the NT$1.5 billion threshold requiring prior approval and those below subject to post-review. The revised rule stipulates that investments in some designated regions and industries also need to gain prior regulatory permission, Department of Investment Reviews Deputy Director-General Su Chi-yen (蘇琪彥) said.
Under the amended Article 10-1, investments in AI and energy-saving projects are eligible for tax deductions, alongside existing categories such as smart machinery, 5G systems and cybersecurity applications, the Industrial Development Administration (IDA) said.
The maximum tax deduction rate for such investments is 5 percent, as the law aims to encourage companies to adopt digital tools such as AI and cloud computing to enhance operational agility and reduce carbon emissions, it added.
In addition, the cap on eligible investments is to be raised from NT$1 billion to NT$2 billion, which means that companies previously only eligible for a maximum tax deduction of NT$50 million could now apply for a deduction of up to NT$100 million, with the incentive remaining effective until the end of 2029, IDA Deputy Director-General Chen Pei-li (陳佩利) said.
To support domestic start-ups, newly amended Article 23-1 lowers the minimum paid-in capital requirement for limited partnership venture capital firms to NT$150 million from NT$300 million, while major shareholders are required to increase their investments in the start-ups from the third year onward to ensure access to funding during the early establishment stage, Chen said.
“We made this decision following the concept of pass-through tax, which is levied only on shareholders rather than on companies, to help ease financial pressure on start-ups,” she added.
Investing in companies designated as national strategic industries are to benefit from a maximum personal income tax deduction of NT$5 million, up from NT$3 million previously, as part of the ministry’s plan to support start-ups, Chen said.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS