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.
After several years flying high as Asia’s best Nvidia Corp proxy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is increasingly vying with other artificial intelligence (AI) stocks for investor attention. Stock traders are chasing a wider array of beneficiaries as mainstream usage of AI creates demand for hardware beyond the most-advanced chips TSMC makes for Nvidia. Subthemes from the deepening memory crunch to advances in robotics are also luring bids. At the same time, investment caps on single stocks are pushing funds to diversify, while retail investors long familiar with TSMC through its US depositary receipts are being offered a broader set of
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
RSS