Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) yesterday said that his ministry is scouting new sites for Nvidia Corp to build its Taipei office, but the T17 and T18 plots in Taipei’s Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) remain the top choice of the chip company.
One of the potential backup plans is land adjacent to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), Kung said.
The ministry said it received a letter on Wednesday from Nvidia asking about the availability of land that would meet its needs and a response by Oct. 24.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The California-based supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) chip is facing difficulties acquiring the land in the technology park, as the Taipei City Government in 2021 granted rights for it to Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽). The city government is struggling to terminate the contract with the life insurer.
As the city has previously expressed concern about potential profiteering from a deal over the land, proposed amendments to administrative regulations have been submitted to the Executive Yuan, which would respond as soon as possible, Kung said.
Separately, Kung pledged to expand liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage capacity “as quickly as possible” following reports that Taiwan’s natural gas reserves would last less than two weeks if China were to impose a blockade of the nation.
Kung was responding to a Wall Street Journal article that said China could “force Taiwan into a total blackout” by conducting a blockade, as about 97 percent of the nation’s fuel is imported by sea.
A series of wargames run by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies showed that, if blockaded, Taiwan’s LNG would run out “in under two weeks,” while its coal reserves would be exhausted after seven weeks, the article said.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of last month, surpassing the US$600 billion mark for the first time, the central bank said yesterday. Last month, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose US$5.51 billion from a month earlier to reach US$602.94 billion due to an increase in returns from the central bank’s portfolio management, the movement of other foreign currencies in the portfolio against the US dollar and the bank’s efforts to smooth the volatility of the New Taiwan dollar. Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民)said a rate cut cycle launched by the US Federal Reserve
Handset camera lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光) on Sunday reported a 6.71 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for the third quarter, despite revenue last month hitting the highest level in 11 months. Third-quarter revenue was NT$17.68 billion (US$581.2 million), compared with NT$18.95 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement. The figure was in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$17.9 billion, but missed the market consensus estimate of NT$18.97 billion. The third-quarter revenue was a 51.44 percent increase from NT$11.67 billion in the second quarter, as the quarter is usually the peak
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
Pegatron Corp (和碩), a key assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, on Thursday reported a 12.3 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for last quarter to NT$257.86 billion (US$8.44 billion), but it expects revenue to improve in the second half on traditional holiday demand. The fourth quarter is usually the peak season for its communications products, a company official said on condition of anonymity. As Apple released its new iPhone 17 series early last month, sales in the communications segment rose sequentially last month, the official said. Shipments to Apple have been stable and in line with earlier expectations, they said. Pegatron shipped 2.4 million notebook
RSS