Taiwanese manufacturers will soon be permitted to make high-end notebook computers, third-generation mobile phones and consumer-electronics products in China, the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced on Friday.
After more than a year of bickering, the ministry's China Investment Task Force decided to open the field and allow local firms to produce these and 122 other products in China.
The new rules will officially go into effect on Jan. 1.
Taiwan is the world's top maker of notebook computers and will account for an estimated 52 percent of the world's supply this year.
The country is expected to produce 13.1 million notebooks this year.
The figure is 380,000 more notebooks than last year, but they are selling at an 11 percent discount due to the downturn, according to information from the Market Intelligence Center, a division of the Institute for Information Industry.
In the past, officials feared a manufacturing exodus to China would hollow out many industries in Taiwan.
In particular, the government refused to allow producers of high-end products such as notebook computers and 3G mobile phones to build factories on the mainland.
The high-tech sector slump prompted the opening, according to analysts.
An executive at Compal Electronics (
The company is in danger of losing its largest customer, Japanese powerhouse Toshiba, to China.
Toshiba and other companies which normally outsource production to Taiwanese firms began building their own manufacturing plants in China late last year or earlier.
As soon as those plants come online, orders to Taiwanese firms are expected to dwindle.
Taiwanese high-tech manufacturers like Acer Inc (
Although many of the 1.3 billion consumers there do not boast tremendous buying power today, market researchers and industry observers believe that will change in the future.
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