Three government incentive programs launched in 2019 to encourage Taiwanese and foreign firms to invest in Taiwan have attracted NT$2.62 trillion (US$83.65 billion) in combined pledged investment from 1,712 companies and created more than 164,500 jobs as of Friday last week, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The Executive Yuan in July last year approved an extension of the three programs — the Action Plan for Welcoming Overseas Taiwanese Businesses to Return to Invest in Taiwan, the Action Plan for Accelerated Investment by Domestic Corporations, and the Action Plan for Accelerated Investment by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises — through next year.
The extension is expected to attract an additional NT$1.2 trillion in investment and create about 80,000 more jobs, bringing the total accumulated investment under the programs to at least NT$3.6 trillion, Department of Investment Promotion Deputy Director Rio Lu (呂貞慧) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Liao Chia-ning, Taipei Times
Among the three programs, the Action Plan for Welcoming Overseas Taiwanese Businesses to Return to Invest in Taiwan has attracted the largest amount, totaling more than NT$1.4 trillion, Lu said.
The program has drawn several major electronics manufacturers back to Taiwan, helping accelerate the return of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor supply chains, she said.
Regarding international investment promotion, the ministry secured 25 foreign investment cases in Taiwan last year, with the companies involved expected to invest about NT$160 billion over the next three to five years, she said.
The ministry aims to raise the number of investment cases and the total investment value further this year, Lu said.
The ministry has signed letters of intent with 11 of the 25 companies, including four from the US, four from Japan, two from Europe and one from South Korea, she said.
The investments cover areas ranging from advanced materials and power systems to semiconductors, AI, circular economy development and public services, she added.
About 80 percent of those cases involve companies expanding their operations and production capacity in Taiwan, while 12 percent are first-time investors in the country, and another 8 percent plan to establish research-and-development (R&D) centers here, Lu said.
Representative foreign investment cases include South Korean firm KoMiCo Ltd, which has established manufacturing operations and an R&D center in Taiwan to support local semiconductor makers’ demand for precision equipment components and refurbishment services, she said.
US-based power management company Eaton Corp has also expanded production of high-end uninterruptible power supply systems and power modules in Taiwan to meet rising electricity demand driven by the AI industry, she said.
In terms of investment by the information and communications technology sector, representative cases include chip packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc’s (力成科技) two projects last year, the ministry said.
The investments, totaling NT$44.3 billion, were used to build fan-out panel-level packaging and advanced wafer-level packaging production lines, Powertech CEO Boris Hsieh (謝永達) said.
Powertech subsidiary TeraPower Technology Inc (晶兆成科技) also submitted two investment projects, committing an additional NT$24.5 billion to expand its highly automated wafer testing capacity, Hsieh said.
Meanwhile, reclaimed wafers supplier Phoenix Silicon International Corp (昇陽半導體) proposed four projects involving a total investment of NT$5.6 billion to add fully automated production lines and warehouse systems at its Taichung plants, Phoenix president Tony Tsai (蔡幸川) said.
The ministry will continue to help shape industry advantages this year through the three programs to build a more competitive investment environment, Lu said.
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