Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said that his earlier comment about an assumed US$400 billion US investment was only an estimate and was based on references to other countries’ situations.
Kuo on Wednesday last week at a meeting with industry representatives said that Taiwan’s investment in the US could reach US$400 billion — a figure that he clarified yesterday was only an estimate.
While the government is seeking a US tariff rate below the current 20 percent, achieving it might require greater investment pledges in the US, Kuo told reporters on the sidelines of an energy forum in Taipei, citing the cases of the EU, Japan and South Korea.
Photo: CNA
In their trade negotiations with the US, the EU pledged US$600 billion in US investments, Japan pledged US$300 billion and South Korea US$350 billion, he said.
To lessen the tariff burden on companies, the government is considering assisting them to establish operations in the US, Kuo said.
As it typically takes about five years to set up a plant in the US, the government is establishing a trade promotion administration office in Texas this month and is exploring multiple avenues to help local manufacturers enter the US market, he said.
The government is considering assisting manufacturers by investing in distribution channels or warehousing units in major US cities and ports, which might enable them to secure lower tariff rates, he added.
The ministry would work closely with small and medium-sized enterprises to help them boost their competitiveness in eight areas: production, marketing, human resources, research and development, finance, administration, information technology and logistics, Kuo said.
The ministry would also support enterprises to integrate upstream and downstream supply chains, with the possibility of setting up similar trade promotion administration offices to the one in Texas in other US states, he added.
SEMICONDUCTOR SERVICES: A company executive said that Taiwanese firms must think about how to participate in global supply chains and lift their competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it expects to launch its first multifunctional service center in Pingtung County in the middle of 2027, in a bid to foster a resilient high-tech facility construction ecosystem. TSMC broached the idea of creating a center two or three years ago when it started building new manufacturing capacity in the US and Japan, the company said. The center, dubbed an “ecosystem park,” would assist local manufacturing facility construction partners to upgrade their capabilities and secure more deals from other global chipmakers such as Intel Corp, Micron Technology Inc and Infineon Technologies AG, TSMC said. It
EXPORT GROWTH: The AI boom has shortened chip cycles to just one year, putting pressure on chipmakers to accelerate development and expand packaging capacity Developing a localized supply chain for advanced packaging equipment is critical for keeping pace with customers’ increasingly shrinking time-to-market cycles for new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said yesterday. Spurred on by the AI revolution, customers are accelerating product upgrades to nearly every year, compared with the two to three-year development cadence in the past, TSMC vice president of advanced packaging technology and service Jun He (何軍) said at a 3D IC Global Summit organized by SEMI in Taipei. These shortened cycles put heavy pressure on chipmakers, as the entire process — from chip design to mass
Germany is to establish its first-ever national pavilion at Semicon Taiwan, which starts tomorrow in Taipei, as the country looks to raise its profile and deepen semiconductor ties with Taiwan as global chip demand accelerates. Martin Mayer, a semiconductor investment expert at Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI), Germany’s international economic promotion agency, said before leaving for Taiwan that the nation is a crucial partner in developing Germany’s semiconductor ecosystem. Germany’s debut at the international semiconductor exhibition in Taipei aims to “show presence” and signal its commitment to semiconductors, while building trust with Taiwanese companies, government and industry associations, he said. “The best outcome
Semiconductor equipment billings in Taiwan are expected to double this year, as manufacturers in the industry are keen to expand production to meet strong global demand for artificial intelligence applications, according to SEMI, which represents companies in the electronics manufacturing and design supply chain. Speaking at a news conference before the opening of Semicon Taiwan trade show tomorrow, SEMI director of industry research and statistics Clark Tseng (曾瑞榆) said semiconductor equipment billings in Taiwan are expected to grow by an annual 100 percent this year, beating an earlier estimate of 70 percent growth. He said that Taiwan received a boost from a
RSS